The Girl Who Saved My Life

A filmmaker who fled to Sweden returns to his homeland Iraq to give a face to the millions of refugees in that region. He meets an 11-year-old girl who stops him from making a fatal journey.

In 1999, filmmaker Hogir Hirori flees Iraq and, after a harrowing journey, ends up in Sweden. He has been living there ever since. By now he is married and his wife is hugely pregnant with their first child. When he sees the images of his homeland under the scourge of IS, and of the multitudes on the run, he feels compelled to return and help the refugees, even if just to give a face to the 1.5 million people who left their homes to escape the terror of IS.

After arriving in Iraq, he gets an opportunity to join a helicopter transport to the Sinjar Mountains. The flight is intended to transport food and water to a remote area that is surrounded by IS. Hundreds of people are trapped there without access to food, fresh water, or medicine. On his way to the helicopter, Hirori stumbles upon Souad, an 11-year-old girl lying on the ground in the scorching heat. She is in pain, alone, and has not eaten for days. He decides stay and help her instead of boarding the flight. As becomes clear later, this proves to be a decision that will affect the course of his life. An exciting and personal account of the appalling circumstances in the refugee camps in and around Iraq.

Text: Annika Wubbolt