Film Forum

Mediha, a 15-year-old Yazidi girl, roams the fields surrounding a refugee camp in Northern Iraq with a camera, making intimate, poignant video diaries. Captured by ISIS and sold into sex slavery at age 9, Mediha was traded among four different men, while her mother went missing, her younger brothers were also enslaved, and her entire community systematically murdered. In his sophomore feature, Hasan Oswald (HIGHER LOVE) sensitively tracks the devastating aftermath of her escape and survival, empowering Mediha to share her experience through her own eyes and voice, as she seeks legal justice with the help of Yazidi rescuers and mounts a courageous search for her mother, and, most of all, fights for healing.

Presented with support from The Richard Brick, Geri Ashur, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries

2023     90 MIN.     USA     TOGETHER FILMS
IN ENGLISH, ARABIC, KURDISH, AND TURKISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Reviews

“Heart-wrenching…Crushingly beautiful…”
– David Ehrlich, IndieWire

“Revelatory...pulsates with a devastating optimism… MEDIHA offers what few documentaries covering this region’s conflicts do... By entrusting Mediha with the camera, Oswald has given her and her brothers an opportunity to exercise hope. They in turn have offered audiences a sacred invitation."
– Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter