Sabaya

by Hogir Hirori Documentary Competition

When the Islamic State attacked the Iraqi city of Sinjar in 2014, thousands of Yazidi girls and women were captured and exploited. Many of them are now in the Syrian refugee camp of Al-Hol, where they are held by IS members as sex slaves, known as "sabaya". Risking their lives, brave members of the local non-governmental organisation Yazidi Home Centre sneak into the camp's endless rows of tents to free the traumatised women and help them return to their former life and their families. Filmmaker Hogir Hirori gains unique access to the victims by accompanying the volunteers on their nightly rescue missions. A harrowing contemporary document!

About the director(s)

Hogir Hirori was born in 1980 in Duhok, Irak. He fled to Sweden in 1999 and has since lived in Stockholm. Hirori works as a freelance photographer, cutter and director, as well as running his own production company, Lolav Media. His documentary film THE DEMINER won the IDFA Special Jury Award and screened at more than 50 international festivals. SABAYA world premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where Hirori won the Directing Award.

Filmography: Sabaya (doc, 2021) | The Deminer (doc, 2017) | The Girl Who Saved My Life (doc, 2016) | Victims of ISIS (short, doc, 2014) | Hewa, Strongest in Sweden (short, doc, 2007)

About the director(s)