12/08/2018

FILM FESTIVAL : THE HUMAN RIGHTS


ISLAMABAD : AS part of the Human Rights through Cinematography Film Festival, Austrian Ambassador Nicolaus Keller hosted a screening of acclaimed documentary What The Wind Took Away.

Mr. Keller said this is the first cultural project he is doing since he arrived in Pakistan in Nov 1. The Ambassador was the head of culture in Austria prior to this posting.

Directed by Helin Celik and Martin Klingenbock, the film is follows the lives of Hedil and Naam, two Yazidi women who are displaced and stuck in a refugee camp between the so-called Islamic State [IS] that massacred their people and their eventual destination, Europe.

The Yazidis are a small ethnically Kurdish religious community who have endured centuries of  systematic oppression and persecution.

During the IS attack in August 2014 in Sinjar, Northern Iraq, there were  numerous casualties amongst Yazidi men and thousands of women were kidnapped.

The documentary provided a fascinating glimpse into the day to day lives of the two women and the hope that survives simply because they do.

As the women narrate their stories, they cook, clean, eat wash, build a kitchen tent and plant a bed of parsley, creating a life of normalcy for their families. The patriarchal customs of the tribe are apparent in the way the men have time to rest and relax, play sports and music, while the women work never ends, Heidi says : ''Many of the women are afraid of their husbands. Wouldn't it be awful if your husband imprisoned you?''

Children are put to work clearing the grass out of the vegetable bed, while Naam carries soil.

A nature lover, she says : ''Even before, when I was sad I would go outside into nature and I would be alright. Our life was full of joy, full of celebrations. We participated in every function in our village''.

From once having had everything, she is now left with a single frying pan that her mother gave her.

''Had Sijnar not been destroyed we would never have traded it in for Europe. No house in the village was as beautiful as mine but now everything is gone'' she says.

Her husband had an aviary, but all the birds died, except the doves that flew away.

Hedil says : ''We, the Yazidis, became doves; doves without wings.''

The honor and serving of the latest operational research on  Refugees and Human Rights continues.

ISLAMABAD : Austrian Ambassador Nicolaus Keller hosted a screening of acclaimed documentary What The Wind Took Away.

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