The rise and fall of a city in the endless Game of Thrones,Voix d`Exils

The rise and fall of a city in the
endless Game of Thrones
la ville de Qamishili. Source: page Facebook de Qamishili.
An important part of my job as a legal translator in my city Qamishli,
situated in north-eastern Syria on the border with Turkey, was working
with asylum-seekers and refugees, especially Iraqis who had fled their
country following the American invasion in 2003 and wanted to find refuge
in the asylum countries.
I was preparing their dossiers: translating the documents, fixing
appointments with the embassies, filling the formulas etc. Hundreds of
families came to my office, each had an extremely painful story of
deportation, persecution and displacement. It was very distressing to
hear the narratives of these unfortunate people, who once had lived a
fairly stable and comfortable life, then all of a sudden their world
turned upside down and having lost everything they found themselves
homeless refugees in other countries.
Being myself a descendant of a refugee family, their stories were not
totally strange to me. My grandfather was the only survivor of an
extended family massacred during the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the
Ottoman government against the Armenians and the other Christians of
Turkey during and after the World War I. In 1920, like many of his
compatriots, my grandfather could only survive by miracle, traversing on
foot the enormous territory separating his ancestral village situated in
the province of Diyarbakır in southeaster Turkey and the Syrian border
town of Ras al Ayn. Therefore, tales of displacement and mass killing had
always haunted my memory since I was a child.
Nevertheless, putting myself then in the shoes of the Iraqi refugees, I
could not help thinking of what might happen to me and my family had we
experienced the same devastating war in Syria? The mere thought of it was
terrifying and nightmarish.
But, what I then thought as something incredible soon became a reality in
2011. The civil war started in Syria and the Pandora box, with all the
evils of the world, was opened widely. This time, the troubled faces of
my countrymen started streaming into my office, carrying alongside their
precious documents, gruesome stories of kidnappings, lootings and
killings as the entire security system in the country collapsed, the
vital
services
completely
crumpled
and
considerable
territories
surrounding the city fell into the hands of Daesh ISIS.
Ironically, the grandchildren of the refugees who one hundred years ago
had founded this beautiful frontier city as a safe haven from
persecution, were now frantically fleeing from the impending apocalyptic
devastation and killing, by seeking refuge in Sweden, Germany and other
European countries.
The lights of the lively, multi-ethnic, prosperous city of Qamishli
suddenly dimmed, the buzzing activities died down and the streets became
deserted and lifeless.
Another sad story of the rise and fall of a city in the endless game of
the thrones.
DONO Hayrenik
Membre de la redaction vaudoise de Voix d’Exils
Infos:
Version française de l’article parue le 21.09.2016 sur voixdexils.ch
Voix d’Exils: the movie!
Special logo for the movie. Author:
Keerthigan Sivakumar / Voix d’Exils.
Grasping what is Voix d’Exils in less than 8 minutes: this is the
challenge that has successfully achieved Keerthigan Sivakumar, asylum
seeker from Sri-Lanka. He bravely started the production of a movie on
the blog and decided to follow the three different editing boards of Voix
d’Exils. After several months of shooting in 2013, Mr. Sivakumar and his
highly motived team have finally finished this demanding project. Watch
the movie’s preview following the link at the end of the article!
Passionate by cinema and part of the vaudois editing board of Voix
d’Exils, Keerthigan Sivakumar jumped into the production of a movie on
the blog in March, 2013. This was an unexpected challenge since Voix
d’Exils didn’t possess any proper material, neither the technical
knowledge, necessary to this kind of project. However, his demand was
positively accepted by all the members of the editing boards, as well as
by other partners who decided to support him. The priority was to give
the members of the editing boards the opportunity to share their own
experience of the blog on the one hand and of their stay in Switzerland
as asylum seekers on the other. This main goal guided the artistic
choices of the author through the making of the film: intense portraits
on sights and lips that seem to tell a whole story. According to
Keerthigan Sivakumar, the movie doesn’t just depict the blog, but it aims
to address a much wider message: “Do not judge who I might be before
knowing me. I am as everybody. Look at me as a person and don’t reduce me
to a category”.
To watch the French version of the movie, click on the following
link:http://youtu.be/uAVnobYaQQU
To watch the English version of the movie, click on the following link:
http://youtu.be/hydE3gkv5e0
To watch the movie in a better quality: change the feature at the bottom
of the Youtube window (the symbol of a wheel), rising the quality until
1080 p HD.
This movie is under a Creative Commons license
and can be freely
broadcasted. Thanks for sharing further on your websites or your social
networks the link which leads to the movie.
We would like to thank gratefully our partners without whom this
endeavour couldn’t have been done. Thanks sincerely to Pôle Sud, TV
Bourdonette and Alexi Sans S for their support
Omar Odermatt
In charge of the blog Voix d’Exils
Pictures of the making of
Author: Voix d’Exils
Author: Voix d’Exils.
Author: Voix d’Exils
Author: Voix d’Exils
Author: Voix d’Exils
Voix d’Exils: le film !
Keerthigan Sivakumar lors du tournage du
film. Photo: Voix d’Exils
Comprendre ce qu’est Voix d’Exils en moins de 8 minutes : c’est le défi
qu’a brillamment relevé Keerthigan Sivakumar, requérant d’asile d’origine
sri-lankaise, qui s’est attelé à la production d’un film sur le blog.
Après plusieurs mois de tournage, en 2013, lors desquels il a suivi les
trois rédactions de Voix d’Exils, Keerthigan Sivakumar a finalisé ce
projet exigeant à l’aide d’une équipe motivée. Visionnez en primeur le
film en cliquant sur les liens qui se trouvent dans l’article.
Passionné de cinéma et membre de la rédaction vaudoise de Voix d’Exils,
Keerthigan Sivakumar s’est lancé dans la production d’un film sur le blog
en mars 2013. Un défi d’envergure, car Voix d’Exils ne disposait ni du
matériel adéquat, ni des compétences techniques pour mener à bien ce
projet. Sa proposition a été accueillie très favorablement par les
membres des différentes rédactions cantonales, ainsi que par plusieurs
partenaires qui n’ont pas hésité à lui apporter leur soutien. Donner en
priorité la parole aux membres des rédactions pour qu’ils racontent leur
expérience du blog, mais aussi leur expérience de requérant d’asile en
Suisse, telles sont les axes qui ont guidé les choix artistiques de
l’auteur: des portraits serrés, des plans fixes sur des regards qui en
disent long, des lèvres qui racontent. Pour Keerthigan Sivakumar, en plus
de présenter le blog Voix d’Exils, ce film porte aussi un message plus
général qu’il adresse aux spectateurs: «Ne préjuge pas qui je suis avant
de me connaître. Je suis comme tout le monde. Regarde-moi comme une
individualité et ne me réduis pas à une catégorie.»
Pour visionner la version française du film, cliquer sur le lien suivant:
http://youtu.be/uAVnobYaQQU
Pour visionner la version anglaise du film, cliquer sur le lien suivant:
http://youtu.be/hydE3gkv5e0
Pour voir le film en qualité supérieure: modifier le réglage qui se
trouve au bas de la fenêtre Youtube au niveau du symbole en forme
d’engrenage en augmentant la qualité de l’image jusqu’à 1080 p HD.
Ce film est sous licence Creative Commons et peut être librement diffusé.
Merci de partager largement les liens du film sur vos sites Internet et
réseaux sociaux.
Nous tenons ici à remercier chaleureusement nos partenaires sans lesquels
ce film n’aurait jamais pu voir le jour. Un grand merci à Pôle Sud, à TV
Bourdonette et à Alexi Sans S pour leur soutien.
Omar Odermatt
Responsable du blog Voix d’Exils
Photos des coulisses du tournage
La formation multimédia de Voix d’Exils
au centre de formation « Le Botza ».
Photo: Voix d’Exils.
La rédaction intercantonale de Voix
d’Exils. Photo: Voix d’Exils
Interview. Photo: Voix d’Exils.
Alexi sans S en train de finaliser le
montage du film. Photo: Voix d’Exils.
Piscine de Bremgarten en 2013
Une caricature signée Sara Pages, membre de la rédaction vaudoise de Voix d’Exils
Edward Snowden demandant l’asile en
Suisse
Caricature signée: Sara et Pastodelou, membres de la rédaction vaudoise de Voix d’Exils