HBO Documentary Films Acquires Rights to SIMPLE AS WATER From Oscar-Winner Megan Mylan

HBO Documentary Films has acquired worldwide and streaming rights to the powerful documentary Simple as Water from Academy Award® winning filmmaker Megan Mylan ("Lost Boys of Sudan," "Smile Pinki"). The critically acclaimed film celebrated its world premiere on closing night of the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary will have a limited theatrical run before debuting on HBO later this year and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

Epic in scope but intimate and elegant in feel, Simple as Water is a meditation on the elemental bonds between parent and child. A masterful look at the impact of war, separation and displacement, the film takes audiences into Syrian families' quests for normalcy and through the whirlwind of obstacles - to building life anew.

Filmed over the course of five years in five countries including Turkey, Greece, Germany, Syria and the US, Mylan's sensitive camera reifies the universal importance of family.

Director Megan Mylan achieves remarkable intimacy and complexity in her films. Simple as Water is the result of meaningful collaboration with carefully selected crews of small teams from all over the world, many Syrian refugees themselves.

Its stunning images were created with cinematographers that hail from three continents, are of three different racial and cultural backgrounds and whose lives span three different decades - Lars Skree ("The Act of Killing," "The Look of Silence"), veteran DP Michael Chin ("Eyes on the Prize") and "Rafia Salameh" working inside Syria - a young woman who must remain anonymous for her safety and is credited with a pseudonym.