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STORY: UN / WHD WATANI MY HOMELAND
TRT: 4:15
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV/ FILE / ITN PRODUCTIONS HANDOUT
RESTRICTIONS: NO ACCESS APTN LIBRARY ITN PRODUCTIONS HANDOUT / PLEASE CREDIT MARCEL METTELSIEFEN- ITN PRODUCTIONS FOR HANDOUT
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 18 AUGUST 2016, NEW YORK CITY / FILE / HANDOUT
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
18 AUGUST 2016, NEW YORK CITY
2. Various shots, family arriving at UNHQ
3. Various shots, family getting IDs to enter building
HANDOUT – EXCERPTS FROM “WATANI, MY HOMELAND” – ALEPPO, SYRIA
4. Wide shot, children run under cover to avoid sniper
5. Wide shot, Helen on balcony
6. Close up, Helen and Farah run inside after shots fired
7. Med shot, Abu Ali and Hala cooking
8. Tracking, Abu Ali carries Farah up stairs
18 AUGUST 2016, NEW YORK CITY
9. Pan right, family in General Assembly Hall
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hala Kamil, Syrian refugee:
“I would like for them to put themselves in my place. Let them put themselves in our children’s place. Can anyone imagine seeing their child torn to pieces right in front of them? Can anyone imagine a bedroom collapsing over their child’s head as they watch? Whoever can imagine such a thing, let him not do anything.”
HANDOUT – EXCERPTS FROM “WATANI, MY HOMELAND” – ALEPPO, SYRIA
11. UPSOUND (Arabic) Farah Kassmou, Syrian child:
“That was a close one; it’s going to go off. It didn’t explode.”
18 AUGUST 2016, NEW YORK CITY
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Marcel Mettelsiefen, Director, “Watani, My Homeland”:
“Because it is a story about identity; it’s a story about a family who were ready to sacrifice basically everything for a country and this country, they felt at the end betrayed by their own country, because a revolution, something they started, something they believed in, had been hijacked by somebody else.”
HANDOUT – EXCERPTS FROM “WATANI, MY HOMELAND” – ALEPPO, SYRIA
13. Wide shot, smoking climbing from city
14. Wide shot, damaged buildings
18 AUGUST 2016, NEW YORK CITY
15. Med shot, Farah and Sara
16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hala Kamil, Syrian refugee:
“If I knew that foreign hands were going to intervene in this revolution, people other than Syrians, I would have been the first person to stand against and stop the revolution.”
HANDOUT – EXCERPTS FROM “WATANI, MY HOMELAND” – ALEPPO, SYRIA
17. Med shot, damaged living room
18. Wide shot, Helen cleaning damaged living room
18 AUGUST 2016, NEW YORK CITY
19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hala Kamil, Syrian refugee:
“Aleppo to me is Syria. That means it’s my homeland. Even if it was fully destroyed, I wish I could live even on top of the rubble. I swear to God I would sleep on top of it, and I would be comfortable. I just need to know that they are no jets over me. I would sleep on top of the rubble but I don’t want a jet bombing me while I’m on the rocks. Aleppo is everything for us.”
HANDOUT – EXCERPTS FROM “WATANI, MY HOMELAND” – ALEPPO, SYRIA
20. Med shot, Helen teaching her sisters the alphabet
21. Close up, children laughing
18 AUGUST 2016, NEW YORK CITY
22. Wide shot, Farah and Sara running
23. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hala Kamil, Syrian refugee:
“Some say that we are living under the rules of the jungle. No, the jungle is more merciful than the world we live in. In the jungle there is compassion, there is mercy, but we don’t have compassion and mercy. This world has lost its humanity and conscience. This is the calamity we face. We now have a society that in not ruled by laws. There are no laws that rule it, because once you eliminate the law of humanity there is no other law that supersedes it.”
UNICEF - 25 – 26 JULY 2016, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
24. Various shots, baby being measured for malnutrition at the hospital
25. Wide shot, malnourished child in clinic
UNICEF - MAY 2016, MEDITERRANEAN SEA OFF THE COAST OF ITALY
26. Various shots, refugees reaching out for lifejackets
UNHCR - 21-22 FEBRUARY, 2016, LESBOS, GREECE
27. Various shots, refugees sitting on the deck of coastguard boat
28. Med shot, refugees being helped off coastguard boat
UNICEF - 14 JANUARY 2016, MAKE-SHIFT HOSPITAL IN MADAYA, SYRIA
29. Med shot, UNICEF staff examining a young boy
30. Close shot, child being measured for malnutrition at the hospital
Ahead of World Humanitarian Day, a family that fled the war in Syria arrived at United Nations (UN) headquarters today (18 Aug), ready to tell their story and represent the millions of people like them.
Hala and her four children, Mohamed, Helen, Farah, and Sara, were featured in the German film “Watani: My Homeland” which documented their journey out of war-torn Aleppo.
Hala’s husband Abu Ali joined the Free Syrian Army when the flames of war reached their neighbourhood. His family refused to leave him behind and stayed by his side despite the grave dangers they faced.
Abu Ali was later captured by ISIL in 2014. Hala decided that she could no longer risk her children’s lives and futures in the city after losing Abu Ali and sought asylum in Germany where the family currently resides.
In an interview with UNifeed, Hala said her message to world leaders was to reflect on their own conscience and put themselves in the place of those suffering from war. She stressed anyone that could “imagine seeing their child torn to pieces right in front of them” should not act.
The family will be attending an event on Friday at headquarters to raise awareness on the millions of family like them affected by humanitarian crises. The event will feature excerpts of the film which was recorded over the course of three years.
Director Marcel Mettelsiefen said he chose the name ‘Wantani, My Homeland’ because it was a story of a family who was ready to “sacrifice basically everything for a country.” He said the family then felt betrayed by their country because “a revolution, something they started, something they believed in, had been hijacked by somebody else.” Hala said if she knew what she knows now she would be “the first person to stand against and stop the revolution.”
She said Aleepo was everything to her and her family despite all the destruction the city had seen. Hala said she would live “on top of the rubble” and be comfortable as long as she knew there were no jets “bombing me while I’m on the rocks.”
She said the world had “lost its humanity and conscience” and society was no longer ruled by laws. She said “once you eliminate the law of humanity there is no other law that supersedes it.”
The UN estimates some 130 million people worldwide are in need of humanitarian assistance. The Syrian conflict alone has claimed approximately 400,000 lives and generated over 4.8 million refugees in neighbouring countries, not including the hundreds of thousands who have fled to Europe.
The UN refugee agency predicts that 8.7 million Syrians would be internally displaced in 2016. The total population of Syria before the war erupted five years ago was 20 million.
