A documentary is being released in France on the epic of Al-Salam radio, created in Iraq in 2015 in Erbil when the city was held by the Islamic State. The radio, founded by French people, wants to be a symbol of tolerance.
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The film In complete freedom, a radio for peace was released on Wednesday March 8 in French cinemas. This documentary traces the history of Radio Al-Salam, a radio station founded in Iraq in 2015, during the war against Daesh.
It is a French NGO which is at the origin of this radio in Erbil, 60 kilometers from Mosul, a city which was then held by the Islamic State. A truly unique radio, since it is independent, held by no political party or religious organization, which is however the case for all other media. In Iraq, the Christians have their radio, the liberal Sunni Muslims have their TV, as do some Kurdish militias. But, with Radio Al-Salam, the goal is quite different.
“There are traumas that are extremely deep after the war, which are very difficult to repair.”
Director Xavier de Lausanneat franceinfo
The objective is to deliver a message “as far as possible from the one broadcast by Daesh”, explains the French director of the radio, Aymeric de Chezelles. “It’s a message of coexistence, of understanding between communities, based on the principle that if you know and understand your neighbor, you will better accept him and better coexist with him”, develop French.
The documentary Freely looks back on this story and follows the seven journalists of the editorial staff. All are Iraqis or Syrians from different religious communities. And all of them have experienced the war against Daesh. Director Xavier de Lauzanne has “immediately wanted to follow these journaliststo understand what they have brought to the media landscape and their uniqueness in this landscape”. For the director, “the link to the question of coexistence is not at all something easy. Communities today live in a fairly compartmentalized way and therefore the slightest little project which makes it possible to recreate the link, which makes it possible to cross these partitions, which allows outstretched hands to meet, these are small projects but which have a very great importance.”
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