MAG is pleased to announce its partnership with Mediha, a powerful documentary directed by award-winning filmmaker Hasan Oswald and executively produced by Oscar-winning actor Emma Thompson.
After a successful premiere at New York City’s Film Forum in October, the documentary will now be opening in the UK on Tuesday 5th November.
The film brings to the screen the extraordinary journey of Mediha, a young Yazidi girl who, through her own filmed footage, recounts her survival of ISIS captivity and her search for her missing family members.
In August 2014, ISIS swept across Iraq’s Sinjar region with brutal force, targeting Yazidis with the intent to dismantle their culture and erase their religious identity. The entire Yazidi community of 400,000 fled, with thousands stranded on Mount Sinjar, facing starvation until rescue. Men and the elderly were executed, while many boys were trained to become child soldiers. Women and girls were forced into slavery, repeatedly sold and traded among ISIS soldiers.
Though ISIS was defeated in 2019, its impact endures, with nearly 2,800 Yazidi women and children still missing. Those who survived the genocide and have remained in the region are still struggling to return to their ancestral homeland due to the continued unrest and destruction of their homes, farmlands and businesses.
The impact can also be seen in the widespread contamination that still affects region. Landmines, cluster munitions, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were scattered throughout homes, schools, farms and hospitals, posing a deadly threat to those who returned.
Since 1992, MAG has been working with Yazidi and other communities in northern Iraq to make land safe for populations affected by decades of conflict. Our efforts enable farmers, families and communities to rebuild their lives and livelihoods in safety.
Filmed over three years in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria, the documentary offers an intimate and unfiltered view of the lives of Mediha and her younger brothers, Ghazwan and Adnan, eight years after the genocide. It captures both their daily routines and their powerful emotional reflections as they, alongside their community, strive to rebuild their lives.
“Meeting Mediha transformed my approach to storytelling,” said director Hasan Oswald. “Her story was too powerful for traditional documentary techniques, so I handed her the camera. Through her video diaries, she faced her pain and found her voice, courageously turning her trauma into a journey of self-representation.”
Oswald worked closely with Mediha and her community to ensure her story was portrayed authentically. “We created a narrative that she truly felt represented by. Her courage is incredible,” he said.
Beyond recounting her own journey, Mediha emerges as an advocate for Yazidis, using her experience to support other women and girls in similar circumstances. Now enrolled in an educational programme for asylum seekers in New York City, she is working towards asylum, with ongoing efforts for her brothers as well.
Mediha brings crucial awareness to the Yazidi community’s resilience and the justice they’re seeking as they strive to maintain their cultural and religious identity. It offers a rare perspective on survival and the strength of the human spirit in the face of profound loss.
Mediha opens in the UK on Tuesday 5 November, with several screenings and Q&A sessions with director Hasan Oswald taking place throughout the month.
On Monday 11 November at 6.15pm at Rio Cinema in Dalston, London, Hasan will be joined by MAG’s Director of Engagement Jon Brown and internationally renowned photographer Sane Seven for a post-screening Q&A, hosted by Dalia Al-Dujaili. Sane visited MAG’s Iraq programme to photograph Yazidi women as part of MAG’s Female Lens project earlier this year.
Visit medihafilm.com for more information.
Watch the trailer below and learn more about MAG's work in Iraq here.
