01/03/2022

Souls in Transit documentary narrating 1915 Sayfo Genocide by Ottoman Empire against Christian minorities to compete in 6th Aswan International Women’s Film Festival

BETH NAHRIN — The first documentary that chronicles the extermination of three million Christians by the Ottoman Empire, Souls in Transit, will compete in the 6th edition of the Aswan International Women’s Film Festival.

The documentary tells the events of the 1915 Sayfo Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire against the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean), Armenian, and Greek peoples. It narrates the events of the Sayfo Genocide documented by witnesses’ testimonies and links those events, as tragic continuation, with the current conflicts.

The documentary includes interviews with public personalities who were affected by the genocide after survival, such as Aida Shimon, Zio Rhawi, Yahkub Qasho Malke, and Gorgis Shabo Afram.

The documentary is directed by Aida Schlafer, who was born in Baghdad, Iraq. She studied Media Art and Design in Zürich, Switzerland, and completed advanced studies in Film Directing at the Academy of Arts in Cairo, Egypt.