Little Gandhi film comes to capital

By Micaal Ahmed

In the midst of Syria’s gunfire, bloodshed and torture, Ghiyath Matar and his flowers became a symbol of peaceful resistance — and now his story is coming to Ottawa. Sam Kadi’s film Little Gandhi — screened on Parliament Hill on Feb. 22 and moving to the Mayfair Theatre on Feb. 25 —tells the story of Matar’s proclamation of nonviolent protest.

Matar, a Syrian tailor known for giving flowers and water to troops who arrived in the town of Daraya to break up protests, became an icon for peace in Syria. In 2011, however, he was arrested, tortured and killed by Syrian security forces.

The film, which Kadi directed over Skype with the help of a team based in Syria, was made to remind people of the grim reality of Syria’s ongoing civil war.

“After the uprising started in Syria, I think it took a while until the world took notice,” the Syrian-born Kadi said in a phone interview from Paris. “I just felt that there is a huge misunderstanding about what the uprising is all about and two years, three years, four years into the conflict over there, I felt the media attention shifted completely and ignored the real Syrians and who they are.”

Little Gandhi, which took about two years to make, had its official premiere at the European Independent Film Festival in Paris last April, where it won the “Excellence in Filmmaking” award.  The film has since been screened in different places across the globe — such as Doha, Washington, Vancouver, London and Los Angeles. Now, the Ottawa-based International Development Research Centre, which helped fund the project, is bringing it to Canada’s capital.

Little Gandhi will “raise awareness about the legitimate aspirations for political change which were at the origins of the Syrian conflict, and about the need to address human rights violations to achieve a just peace,” said Roula El-Rifai, a senior program specialist at IDRC and a member of the team organizing the screening. “We aim to reach many Canadians, including parliamentarians and remind them about what started the Syrian conflict.”

The screening is being hosted by Liberal MP Raj Grewal, and is being held in the Sir John A. Macdonald building in the parliamentary precinct. According to El-Rifai, all parliamentarians and their staff, as well as media, were invited.

The 3:30 p.m. Mayfair screening, however, is open to the general public and has free admission.

With the trouble Syrian immigrants are facing south of the border, the IDRC’s plan to increase awareness comes at a time when refugee crises are top of mind.

“I do think it’s important for people to educate themselves about the conflict in Syria,” said Catherine Fleming, a member of the Ottawa Centre for Refugee Action,  “and also to make an effort to be broadly aware of the many other conflicts around the world that force people to flee their home countries.

“They did not choose to immigrate to Canada,” she added. “They were forced to flee their country, leaving much of their family, friends, jobs, schools, hopes and dreams behind. Even if they are now physically safe, it doesn’t mean that they are necessarily happy to be here. For some, their heart and ties remain at home.”

However, Isis Noofoori, a Syrian refugee who has been in Canada since December 2015, said she feels that although there is a lack of awareness in Canada about the Syrian refugee crisis, it’s “only natural” because for someone not living in the country facing the conflict, it’s hard to fully understand what’s going on.