March 24, 2025
Shawnee State University’s Center for Public History will host a documentary screening of “Artifact War: Relics Under Fire” on Tuesday, Apr. 8 in the university’s Flohr Lecture Hall located in the Clark Memorial Library. The documentary film follows SSU Professor Dr. Amr Al-Azm and his team of students working to preserve Syrian antiquities in a war zone. The screening is free and open to the public to attend.
The film features Dr. Al-Azm and his team as the only ones standing in the way of an ISIS illicit antiquities network and faced with losing their cultural heritage, they become spies and go undercover in ISIS territory. Dodging bombs and militia, they create a system to monitor theft and destruction of Syrian antiquities. During the process, they discover more than anticipate by uncovering thousands of trafficked items and that the crimes are being enabled by terrorists and multinational corporations. The tragedy of the situation continues as the sale of illegal goods is uncovered in the most unsuspecting place.
In addition to the screening at SSU on Apr. 8, Dr. Al-Azm will take part in several screenings across the east coast including the Salem Film Festival in Massachusetts on Mar. 29, the Middle East Studies Center at Ohio State University on Apr. 3, the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. on Apr. 4, at Ohio University on Apr. 7, and at Bard College in New York on Apr. 10.
To find more information, view photos, and learn more about “Artifact War: Relics Under Fire”, visit mysterbox.us/artifact-war. To learn more about the Center for Public History at Shawnee State University, visit shawnee.edu/center-public-history.