A new multimedia documentary project is spotlighting the vital roles of women in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. “The Trials of Spring”, is a series of six shorts, a feature film and news reports by The New York Times that offer a rarely seen look at the gripping personal experiences of female activists in the wave of revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. The films profile nine women across Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen, with each detailing their journey through uprisings and crackdowns. While each story is unique, they often share an arc similar to the larger political developments of the post-revolution countries in the region, where an initial hope for change is quashed by increasing repression and conflict. In the Syria short, for example, archival footage shows four women known as the Brides of Peace defiantly march in protest of the Assad regime while wearing homemade wedding dresses. In interviews after fleeing the country, two of the brides describe how their triumphant demonstration caused security forces to imprison them for months.

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