ARTS & entertainment
ARTS & entertainment spotlight on refugees ‘My Beloved Enemy’ makes its American debut this month By Weam Namou In 2009, two French filmmakers journeyed to Turkey to cover a story about Turkish Christians. Their plan changed when they stumbled upon Iraqi Christian refugees living in Turkey. “An 80-year-old Italian priest ran a school for these refugees and when he took us to see it, the stories of the Iraqis really touched our hearts,” said Claire Jeantet. At the school, Jeantet and Fabrice Caterini were intrigued by Ammar, a 16-year-old Iraqi boy who approached them and cleverly said, “You can call me Jack!” With the help of the priest, a true advocate for the Iraqi refugees, the filmmakers dug deeper into the story. They ended up reporting on Iraqi refugees and Diaspora in Turkey, Lebanon, France and Sweden. One of their articles was published by Amnesty International. “We revisited Turkey a few times afterwards,” said Caterini. “And each time we wished our Iraqi contacts were gone, because that would indicate they were in a better place.” In fact most were gone, having resettled in the United States. The filmmakers kept contact with these refugees through Facebook and other media platforms. Later, they decided to continue following the story, which led to the web documentary series “My Beloved Enemy: Iraqi American Stories.” Along with chief cameraman Thomas Bernardi, writers and directors Jeantet and Caterini headed to five U.S. cities: Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Las Vegas and San Diego. They arrived on March 18 — exactly 10 years since the start of the war — and spent seven weeks in the country. Their focus was on real people, both Iraqi and American, whose lives were forever changed by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. “Even if America does not have a very long history, it makes up our civilization and Iraqis are now a part of it,” said Caterini. “They are like the last layer of immigrants that came to this country.” Filmmakers Claire Jeantet and Fabrice Caterini surround Raad Kosa, who first settled in Michigan before opening a store in Las Vegas. Claire Jeantet and Shamamta Korkis in Sterling Heights. Some 100,000 Iraqi refugees have fled to the U.S. in the wake of the war. More continue to enter the country every day. The filmmakers observed some common hopes and fears facing Iraqi Americans, whom they described as very hard working and family oriented. “Having come from a war-torn country, they want their portion of happiness,” said Caterini. “Their biggest fear is being associated with terrorists because of 9/11 and the war. They are also concerned for the fate of Iraq as most of them have relatives still living there.” “We noticed that in the U.S., where they are safe and settled, they thought a lot about Iraq,” said Jeantet. “They are strongly connected to their roots and truly care about the future of Iraq.” Jeantet also noted that some Iraqis were not comfortable sharing their thoughts and wondered if the years of living under a dictatorship and going through wars created a fear of speaking with foreigners. Even more interesting observations were the ones the filmmakers made about Americans. “In Europe we have a cliché mentality when we think about America,” said Caterini. “We assume Americans are self-centered and don’t care much about the rest of the world. In fact, the majority are openminded and cultivated and really eager to explain how people blend into the American picture.” “Minorities here have many ways to express themselves, more than they do in France or in other parts of Europe,” said Jeantet. “Here people are mostly sympathetic towards other immigrants, their attitude being, ‘we too came from someplace else.’” Many of the Americans they spoke to have a relative who served in the Iraq War. Highlighted in the documentary is the experience of a veteran filled with regret. Back in the United States, he found it ironic that Iraqis are now coming to live beside him. He likes getting involved with the Iraqi community and offers them help and support. “My Beloved Enemy” will be released online on December 10. In September, there were three crowded screenings at Visa pour l’Image, the premiere film festival held in Perpignan, France. “People appreciated the broad range of people we interviewed: Christians, Muslims, educated or not, women and men, young and old,” said Jeantet. “They welcomed the fact that we didn’t focus on characters with visible wounds of the war and they liked the positive message of the documentary. They were surprised by the large number of Iraqis resettled in the U.S. and the way this country is welcoming them despite every cliché.” “In all three screenings, the audience was curious in particular about the fact that our characters didn’t express anger towards the U.S.,” said Caterini. “One French woman even argued that she would have preferred us not to show an Iraqi saying, ‘I love America.’ Someone else in the audience answered spontaneously that French people didn’t accept double culture and the debate was on!” While their project is essentially complete, the filmmakers’ contacts with the people they met along the way is not over, nor will it be. “We fell in love with some of the people portrayed in the project and keep in touch with them even as we are already working on new projects,” said Jeantet. The filmmakers tackled several in-depth stories this year. They adapted a book they published about the economic crisis in Greece, “Athens, a Greek Tragedy,” into a web documentary that was translated to 10 European languages, and they are still promoting a project they made about Bosnia, 20 years after the war. “Our dream is to have more financial freedom so that we can make projects like ‘My Beloved Enemy,’” said Caterini. “There were many great stories which caught our attention during this shooting across the U.S.” View the documentary at MyBelovedEnemy.com. 36 CHALDEAN NEWS DECEMBER 2013
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