Chambre vide (la)

Empty Room (The)

Jasna Krajinovic, Belgium France, 2016, HDV, Format diffusion : 1.77 (HDV 16:9), 58 minutes

Sabri, Saliha’s son, abruptly left for Syria one day to make the jihad. He was 19. Three months later, Saliha, her husband and her children just as abruptly learnt of his death. Sabri left behind an empty room and devastated relatives. Saliha, in the face of this difficult mourning, decides to take action and mingles with other parents, other mothers whose children left for Syria. Some of them are dead, some others still live and somehow manage to stay in contact with their families. Together they try to understand where this sudden radicalization comes from and how their children could be enlisted by the jihadist networks so rapidly.
Today, the death of a youth who dies in Syria, as is the case for Sabri, is not legally recorded, the child is presumed absent, presumed dead. How can you mourn in such conditions? From the Belgian parliament to the youths whom she meets in schools, Saliha endeavours to make things happen by witnessing the phenomenon of radicalization, the action of the recruiters and the fragilities on which it is founded.
Jasna Krajinovic filmed this story within the intimacy of the families as well as their public action. With plenty of sensibility, she offers us her viewpoint and gives us the key to grasp the extent of this phenomenon which is crushing us nowadays. In Saliha’s home, we follow this family that is rebuilding itself in the mourning of a vanished son. In the public sphere, we perceive what is striking these families and the potential answers. It’s this double movement which contributes to the force of the film.

• Directed by: Jasna Krajinovic
• Screenplay: Jasna Krajinovic
• Photography: Benoit Dervaux, Joachim Philippe
• Sound: Céline Bodson, Quentin Jacques, Aymen Sahli, Bruno Schweisguth
• Image editing: Marie-Hélène Mora
• Sound editing: Marie-Hélène Mora
• Mixing: David Vranken
• Languages: FR, AR
• Subtitles: FR, EN, NL
• Available formats: DCP, Digital
• Production: Dérives
• Coproduction: Arte France, RTBF Secteur Documentaires, Savage Films (be), CBA (be)
• Coproduction workshop: CBA
• Festival promotion:

  CBA - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Sales (interlational distribution):

  Thierry Detaille - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• CBA
• Festival selections:

  Traces de Vies, Clermont-Ferrand (France) 11/16
  Verzio Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Budapest (Hongrie) 11/16
  Festival dei Popoli, Firenze (Italie) 11/16
  DokumentArt-European Film Festival For Documentaries, Neubrandenburg (Allemagne) 11/16
  Festival International Jean Rouch, Paris (France) 11/16
  Astra Film Festival, Sibiu (Roumanie) 10/16
  UNAFF-United Nations Association Film Festival, Stanford (USA) 10/16
  SEEfest-South East European Film Festival, Los Angeles (USA) 04/16
  Festival Millenium, Bruxelles (Belgique) 03/16
  Festival International de Films de Fribourg (Suisse) 03/16

• Awards:

  DokumentArt-European Film Festival For Documentaries, Neubrandenburg (Allemagne) 11/16 - Grand Prix

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