Please join us for this film screening and discussion
hosted by the United Nations Association of New York
Mediha
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Hasan Oswald
Director and Producer
Mediha Alhamad
Main Participant and Cinematographer
Moderated by
Susanna Petrin
Journalist
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Monday | 9 December 2024 | 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Admission
UNA Members: $10
Non-Members: $15
New Plaza Cinema @Macaulay Honors College
35 West 67 Street
New York, NY 10023
6:30 p.m. | Film Screening
8:00 p.m. | Q+A
Screening begins promptly at 6:30 p.m. followed by a Q+A panel discussion
NOTE: the New Plaza Cinema is located inside Macaulay Honors College. Theater policy for attendees: there is no food/beverage, other than water, allowed in the screening room.
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Register for this event here
MEDIHA is the story of one girl’s fight to find her missing family members, revealing the strength and determination of a young survivor as she reclaims her voice and future. From executive producer Emma Thompson, this award-winning film from Hasan Oswald is an incredible story of resilience.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize | 2023 Doc NYC
Mediha, a 15-year-old Yazidi girl, roams the fields surrounding a refugee camp in Northern Iraq with a camera, making intimate, poignant video diaries. Captured by ISIS and sold into sex slavery at age 9, Mediha was traded among four different men, while her mother went missing, her younger brothers were also enslaved, and her entire community systematically murdered.
In his sophomore feature, Hasan Oswald sensitively tracks the devastating aftermath of her escape and survival, empowering Mediha to share her experience through her own eyes and voice, as she seeks legal justice with the help of Yazidi rescuers and mounts a courageous search for her mother, and most of all, fighting for healing.
Mediha Alhamad was an integral part of the making of the documentary. She filmed herself and her family for three years, bringing the audience into the most authentic telling of her story. With a courage and determination beyond her years, she has become an advocate for her community, with the potential to help other Yazidi women and girls in very similar circumstances. Some of those who have witnessed her strength believe that Mediha, a Yazidi survivor herself, is the best person to do this.
Emma Thompson, one of the film’s executive producers, said that she was “so honored to be a small part of this incredible film, which shines a light on forgotten voices and overlooked injustices. From the earliest versions I watched, I could see how gracefully and empathetically made the film was.”
Selected for many international film festivals, Mediha went on to win many Grand Jury as well as Audience Award prizes, including at the DOC NYC Festival, the CPH:DOX Festival, and the Florida, San Sebastian, Annapolis, Mammoth Lakes and Pordenone film festivals. It was also selected as an Opening Night feature at London’s Human Rights Watch film festival.
We invite you to attend our special screening of this powerful film, when we will be honored to have both Hasan Oswald and Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad, the film’s director and subject, present after the film for an interaction with the audience. The conversation will be moderated by journalist Susanna Petrin.
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From the Reviews
“Heart-wrenching…Crushingly beautiful…” David Ehrlich, IndieWire
“Revelatory... pulsates with a devastating optimism… Mediha offers what few documentaries covering this region’s conflicts do... By entrusting Mediha with the camera, Oswald has given her and her brothers an opportunity to exercise hope. They in turn have offered audiences a sacred invitation." Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter
“Brave, striking, and powerful. Extraordinary. One of the Best (and Most Anticipated) Documentaries of 2024” Vogue
“Mediha is not easy viewing, but a necessary watch… It is heartening to see that suffering need not lead to irrevocable damage, however. Healing is possible. And through a combination of cinematic empathy and restrained filmmaking, director Oswald often allows Mediha and her siblings to record the footage we see, andpresents a moving treatment that celebrates human resilience.” Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Festival Today
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Related Links
Guest Speakers
Hasan Oswald
Hasan has covered the water crisis in Flint, Michigan (Forgotten USA), drug trafficking and homelessness in Camden, NJ (Higher Love), and the international diaspora of conflict refugees for NatGeo (Hell on Earth). His latest documentary, Mediha, is executive produced by Emma Thompson and follows a teenage Yazidi girl processing her trauma after being held captive by ISIS. Mediha won the Grand Jury Award and Audience Award runner-up at Doc NYC 2023. Hasan was also named one of Doc NYC’s 40 under 40 documentary rising stars to watch co-presented by HBO Documentary Films.
Mediha Alhamad
Mediha was an integral part of the making of the Mediha documentary. She filmed herself and her family for three years, bringing the audience into the most authentic telling of her story. She’s brave and determined beyond her years and has become an advocate for her community. She has the potential to help other Yazidi women and girls in very similar circumstances, and we believe that she, a Yazidi survivor herself, is the best person to do this.
Guest Moderator
Susanna Petrin
Susanna Petrin is a Swiss culture journalist based in New York. She has a master’s degree in German and English language and literature from the University of Basel and a master's in media research from the University of Zurich. She worked as an editor for various newspapers and sat on the jury for the Swiss Book Prize. Before she arrived in New York she lived and worked in Cairo, Egypt, where she wrote cultural articles about the region and learned some Arabic.
Watch the official trailer for MEDIHA
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