Featured image for post: Barton Welcomes Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker Khadija Al-Salami for a Screening of “Child War Reporters” on April 16

Barton Welcomes Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker Khadija Al-Salami for a Screening of “Child War Reporters” on April 16

WILSON, N.C. — April 2, 2019 — Try to imagine the story of war told from a child’s perspective. How do these horrific experiences shape a child’s point of view? Plan to join Barton College in welcoming award-winning documentary filmmaker, director, and author Khadija Al-Salami to the campus for a screening of her 52-minute documentary “Child War Reporters.” The screening, followed by a Q&A session and reception, will be held on Tuesday, April 16, from 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Family Theatre on the Barton campus. This event is open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.

In a brief synopsis of the documentary, Khadija Al-Salami shares, “The truth is spoken directly by the children. This documentary follows three children who allow the viewer to discover, through their remarkable sensitivity and maturity, the terrible situation of the civilian victims of a forgotten war as there are no images to document it. Ahmed, Rima and Youssef travel through Sana’a and the refugee camps to unveil, shamelessly and without any restraint, the lives of Yemenis who are under the bomb attacks of an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia. The young age of these reporters provides exchanges marked by systematic and profound reminders. The kids fully express their personal feelings and react to the moving accounts that they collect from their interviewees with complicity. The misunderstanding of this war prevails over hatred. The witnesses cry out their hope for the future of their country.”

About the speaker — In addition to her writing and documentary work, Khadija Al-Salami is a girls’ and women’s rights activist and one of the “Top 50 People Shaping the Culture of the Middle East.” She is Yemen’s first woman film-maker and has made more than 26 documentaries for various television stations in France and Yemen, and she has received several awards at various film festivals worldwide. Her first fiction film, “I am Nojoom, Age 10, and Divorced” won more than 25 awards and has been screened at hundreds of festivals across the world. She wrote “La Rosee du Matin.” With Charles Hoots, she has also written the book “The Tears of Sheba” about her experience growing up in Yemen. Until 2011, she served as the Press and Cultural Counselor and Director of Communication at the Cultural Center at the Embassy of Yemen in Paris.

Among her awards are the Knight of the Order of Arts & Letters awarded by the French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand, Inspiring Woman, chosen by the Mosaic Foundation (Washington D.C), Medal of Honor rank of Knight (Chevalier) awarded by the French President Jacques Chirac, and the Prince Claus Foundation Award, (Netherland), among others.

This Barton College event is sponsored by the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Office of Student Engagement and Success. 

For additional information about the film screening event, please contact Sharon Barnes in the Office of Student Engagement and Success, at 252-399-6369 or sbarnes@barton.edu.

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