Rojava Diaries
Since 2011 Syria became a playground of a brutal civil war. Till the end of 2017 more than 400 000 people lost their lives and another 12 000 000 were forced to leave their homes.
In October 2017, after a 4 months-long battle, the so-called capital of ISIS (The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) – Raqqa was liberated but fully destroyed. The whole population (around 300 000 people) of the former economic center of the region was forced to flee. Many of them find new homе in refugee camps as Ain Issa camp - a place without basic conditions to satisfy even the simplest human needs.
Nowadays, some of the civilians try to return, but face demolished houses, mined buildings, booby traps, and misery. Even the wealthy citizens before the war now live on bread and tea while waiting for support.
The "lost generation" includes the children who grow up with no education, families, and future. The 9 years old Dozan is one of the "gasoline boys", forced to sell petrol for just 50 cents per day, not enough even for food. His father was killed by ISIS, his mother and brothers are missing. His dreams do not include toys but only memories of the life before.
Meanwhile, many people try to continue their everyday life. In Qamishli, the Kurdish fighter from YPG Masoud has just a few days to marry his long-standing love Heven before he goes back to the frontline of Deir ez-Zor. Optimistically, he believes in the future, the peace, and the independence of Syrian Kurdistan.
The [ Rojava Diaries ] project brings together several stories from war-torn northern Syria in a short video narrative.
The entire documentary was broadcasted in 2017 on bTV Television and it's available for free here.
Articles and photo stories were published in the media outlets of our partners from Economedia.
The project was awarded the special prize of the media congress «Dialogue of Cultures» at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in 2018
and the video journalism prize of BG Press Photo Foundation in the same year.
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