transient

Two Upcoming Transient Film Screenings: San Jose and Boston

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:31:49 +0000

More awareness and more momentum. Transient: a story of Assyrian Iraqi refugees will be shown at San Jose State University on Nov 18 at 3pm in the Guadalupe Room of the Student Union. We look forward to sharing the film and the story with the diverse and active student body of SJSU. The event is being organized by the Assyrian Student Alliance at SJSU.

In addition, Transient is being featured at the Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA) FilmFest in Boston on Sunday, 11/22 at 6:10 PM at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. There are over 20 films and documentaries from all over the world being screened over the weekend. MESA is an academic organization with over 3,000 members and serves as an umbrella organization for nearly 100 institutions and affiliate organizations. It also publishes the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. This is an exciting opportunity to show our work to academics from all over the world.

There will be more Transient screenings in the near future, and as always, it is available in its entirety online at www.projecttransient.com.

UN Goodwill Abassador Angelie Jolie spotlights plight of Iraqi Refugees

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:03:06 +0000

During her visit to Damascus, Syria in early October, Academy Award-winning actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie worked with Iraqi families and refugees to understand the situation faced by the 4.2 million Iraqis who have been displaced from the country since the Iraq War’s start in 2003.

Jolie’s assessment of the situation paints a clear yet bleak image on the situation as a whole—“most Iraqi refugees cannot return to Iraq in view of the severe trauma they experienced there, the uncertainty linked to the coming Iraqi elections, the security issues and the lack of basic services.” The hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees face increasing violence and are unable to return home. Given the limited assistance to refugees aside from humanitarian agencies (ie: UNHCR) and other NGOs, Jolie urged the international community to work towards the support of these individuals financially and otherwise to allow for their existence.

For more information visit the UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news.

Screening and Silent Auction a Huge Success

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:05:27 +0000

Thank you for everyone came out to the Transient screening and silent auction on Saturday! A special thanks to the Assyrian Universal Alliance America’s Youth Chapter for arranging the event and the Assyrian American Association of San Jose for being or gracious hosts. The event was a tremendous success, raising over $9000 for the refugee clinic featured in the documentary. In addition to the silent auction proceeds, the following organizations gave generously:

The Assyrian Evangelical Church of San Jose: $1000
The Assyrian American Association of San Jose: $1000
The Assyrian United Organizations of California: $500

Over 100 people came to see the film and ask questions

Signing the limited edition Transient books for the winners. The highest bid for the book was $1,000.

Saturday night would not have been possible without all your support, dedication and desire to empower the Assyrian refugees. The proceeds from the event will help the clinic in Jaramana continue to see and care for patients and keep the clinic running for nearly one year!

The website will be posted with future event information. For future events, contact Alex at alex@projecttransient.com .

Film Screening and Silent Auction

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:00:26 +0000

Since the start of the Iraq war in 2003, over 4,700,000 Iraqis have been displaced from their homes due to violence and economic instability. These individuals have endured numerous struggles including poor living conditions and limited access to health care which have devastated their livelihood. This film tells the story of Assyrian Iraqi refugees in Syria.

Please join us on Saturday, September 12 at the Assyrian American Association’s Adobe Hall for a film screening and silent auction benefiting the clinic featured in the documentary. We will have two very special prints and ten limited edition books, featuring photos from Syria telling the story of the Assyrian refugees.

7 pm screening and Q&A with filmmaker Anobel Odisho
8 pm cocktail hour
8:30 pm silent auction

Adobe Hall is located at 1352 Lincoln Avenue, San Jose, CA.

Transient to be shown at MESA Film Festival

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:32:17 +0000

Transient: A Story of Assyrian Refugees has been selected by the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) as a featured documentary during the association’s 2009 film festival. MESA is a private, non-profit, non-political learned society including 3000 members that brings together scholars, educators and those interested in the study of the region from all over the world to advance learning, facilitate communication and promote cooperation.

Transient will be screened along with 5 other documentaries and 3 featured films during MESA’s annual conference held from November 21-24 in Boston, MA.

More information about the event can be found at MESA’s website with a detailed program.

We’re very excited to be part of this great film festival and are looking forward to sharing our film in Boston!

Church Bombings in Iraq

melita — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:18:51 +0000

On July 12, 2009, six churches in the Baghdad area were bombed, killing four people and injuring 32. These bombings began on Saturday night at St. Joseph’s church and continued Sunday afternoon with three bombings outside surrounding churches that wounded eight. In addition, Sunday evening a third set of bombings occurred outside a church on Palestine Street, killing 4 and injuring 21. According to a local Iraqi Christian, Sabhan George, continued violence will result in “no Christians left in Iraq.” Several of Iraq’s one million Assyrian Christians have left the country as a result of such attacks. In addition to the church bombings, another Assyrian, Rizko Aziz Nissan, was gunned down at his home in Kirkuk (north of Baghdad) on Sunday morning.

Unfortunately, church bombings have become commonplace in Iraq. According to AINA, 52 churches have been bombed between June 2004 to the end of 2008. One of the refugees that tells his story in Transient was directly affected when the church across the street from his home was bombed one afternoon. It started with what he called a “noise bomb” to attract people and raise casualties. A truck with mounted loudspeakers pulled up and began blaring announcements to get people’s attention. As they left their homes and came forward to see what was going on, the truck, loaded with explosives, detonated and left two dead and many injured. He had been standing outside his home with his father when the announcement began but his father knew danger was imminent. He grabbed his arm and pulled him inside just as the bomb exploded. As he told me his story, he pulled up his sleeve to show me a scar on his arm, from a piece of hot shrapnel that pierced his skin. Along with an additional shrapnel scar on his back, the terrifying memories and a grainy cell phone video showing the remnants of the church are all he has left.

A better life for refugees in America? Maybe not…

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:21:25 +0000

Throughout the camp, the refugees held out hope for the Land of Opportunity, an America with gold lined streets and money spilling out of pockets. “Of course you’re rich, you have all of our oil now!” The perception is that money spills out of our pockets and we spend all of our time trying to spend it. I guess thats the image American TV sends. But the reality is much more difficult, especially with the economy in its current state. A brilliant article in Sunday’s Washington Post tells the story of Iraqi refugees unable to make it in the US, unable to find jobs, and wishing they had never come here.

But now Joodi, who immigrated here on the possibility of a new life he saw in that visit, has more pressing matters on his mind: Should he swallow his pride and ask Fairfax County to move him, his wife and four children into a homeless shelter, or pack it in and return to Iraq?

…

Last year, Congress passed legislation to accept more Iraqi refugees, and the number climbed to more than 12,000, plus 800 others on special visas who had worked for the U.S. government. Now, these same refugees struggling in the economic downturn are at the center of another debate: Does the United States owe them something more?

“We have an obligation to Iraqi refugees, because many in the United States, if not most, were persecuted because of their associations with the United States. . . . So many of these people did put their lives in danger on behalf of America. I think there was an expectation that, as a result, they would be taken care of,” Carey said.

Instead, they’re given $450 from the U.S. State Department and help from a resettlement agency. The amount of aid varies by state and agency.

So if we feel powerless to help the refugees in Syria, is there anything we can do to help them once they arrive to the US?

Transient Photo Exhibit

admin — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:26:34 +0000

Photos from Project Transient will be on display at the annual UCSF Pathways to Discovery research symposium on May 7, from 3-6 pm at UCSF on the Parnassus Campus. Check here for more details! Every year, graduating medical students that have undertaken independent research projects in the Pathways to Discovery program present their work.

UNHCR Revises Refugee Guidelines

admin — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:04:31 +0000

The UN has revised its refugee guidelines, suggesting that due to decreased violence in Iraq, each refugee application should now be considered on a case by case basis. However, they note that the provinces of Kirkuk and Nineveh are not safe enough to return to, and this is where most Assyrians are located.