Swedish producer Antonio Russo Merenda issued a rebuttal 30 September to a New York Times article that reports claims of three Yazidi women within the Sundance 2021 doc Sabaya that they “did not understand what the film’s director, Hogir Hirori, planned to do with the footage or were told that the film would not be accessible in Iraq or Syria.”
The New York Times story, published on 26 September (updated 29 September) further stated that “a fourth said she knew he was making a film, but told him she did not want to be in it. A Kurdish-Swedish doctor who helped Yazidi women also made clear that she did not want to appear in the documentary.”
The film, which won the Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary at Sundance 2021, portrays the rescue of Yazidi women and girls who were abducted by ISIS for exploitation as sex slaves, from the al-Hol Camp in north western Syria.
Merenda’s response states: “Director Hogir Hirori and I have received written, verbal or filmed consent from everyone who appears in our film Sabaya (as well as from the legal guardian of the young girl who is featured). Sabaya is a Swedish production following Swedish law and per Swedish law: written, verbal and filmed consent are equally valid. Consent forms were provided in both Arabic (the official language in both Syria and Iraq) and English.”
He further provides statements from “the main female protagonist” of Sabaya as well as a statement from the Swedish Film Institute.
The unnamed main female protagonist says (translated from Kurdish): “He [director Horori] explained to us all who he was and that he was making a documentary and told us what it was going to be about. I gave him my consent there and then, and I didn’t witness any of the other girls objecting to being filmed during the whole film process. He even let us try filming with his camera. Then Hogir accompanied us to the Syrian-Iraqi border where he gave us his phone number and told us to contact him if we had any questions or concerns. We all told him that we consent to everything and that we didn’t have any concerns.”
The Swedish Film Institute statement, issued September 30 and signed by Head of Production Magdalena Jangard, states how her organisation “pays attention to documentary filmmakers’ working methods, that they are carried out in both a legal and ethically correct and professional way.”
The statement continues: “Regarding the film Sabaya, the producer and director have a long experience working with documentaries and their ethical compass has never been questioned before. On the contrary: they have built up a high level of trust over the years. From our point of view they have handled both the filming and the follow-up for Sabaya in a correct and professional way and that the participants have given their consent, written or verbal, which has the same status according to Swedish law. They have been responsive to the objections from a couple of participants with small parts in the film and immediately made the necessary adjustments.”
The statement continues: “It is our understanding that the filmmakers worked as professionals as always, treating the participants with all needed respect in this complex situation. Lastly, we would like to underscore the importance of the subject of the film and its role to create needed awareness of the situation for the Yazidi women.”
The controversy has led to the cancellation of an October 6 International Documentary Association (IDA) screening of Sabaya in Los Angeles. “As an organization, we need to determine a responsible path forward for IDA’s engagement with the film,” the organisation posted on its website.
“In the days following the publication of the [New York Times] article, our team has engaged in due diligence through a process of communicating with the filmmakers and key stakeholders. Due to potential safety risks involved for some people portrayed in the film, we have chosen to remove the film from our 2021 Screening Series. Out of an abundance of caution, we have decided not to amplify the film at this time.”
