In his early twenties Addai leaves his entire life behind and moves to Syria to help victims of the civil war. At first he is assigned kitchen duty together with Ilias. Addai writes to his mother: “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” Two years later Addai’s mother receives a letter from prison. Ilias has been sentenced for terrorism by a German court. He wants to meet her and writes: “One thing you have to believe me, we went there with good intentions.” 

The documentary “When the Light Goes Out” aims to, through an experimental video essay and using images from the photos of the Fotocine Fund existing in the collection of the Municipal Museum of Coruche, to make known some aspects of the familiar reality of the mid-twentieth century in this Ribatejo region and its relation to photography.