[Music]
the year is 2014 to Syrian peace
activists sitting amongst the rubble and
dust surrounded by the ruins of a little
town called Daraa a suburb of the Syrian
capital Damascus the oldest inhabited
capital in the world Daria the home of
350,000 Syrians is now a besieged town
only six thousand people remain making
last stand for freedom and dignity a
town once known for its grapes apricots
and olive trees is now a place where
people cook grass to feed themselves
our film camera is ready to roll trying
to capture the story of both the city
and the war-torn Syria roll camera
[Music]
[Applause]
Vanessa will appear with like a thing of
citizen animals while we were filming I
asked the activists what inspired you to
up rise in 2011 with a bottle of water
and roads knowing the immense risk you
were taking calmly one of them said
Martin Luther King jr. and Mahatma
Gandhi where desperation these heroes
have taught us and inspired us and told
us to stand up and to speak up so our
children can have a better future and
instead of violence we presented roses
and instead of fire
we presented bottles of water actually
we handed them to our oppressors hoping
they’d understand that were not the
enemy but the people who must be served
and not crushed unfortunately we were
left alone in an ocean of blood and a
mass grave that welcomed over a half a
million of our innocent bodies while the
it hits me hard it shook me a moment of
realization and inspiration so deep and
so profound that I could not stop
talking about it for the last four years
I was born in Syria Syria where the
alphabet was founded where the very
first musical note was invented and the
land of the oldest church ever existed a
beautiful ancient country that
unfortunately in the eighties became
known as the republic of fear growing up
I always dreamt of experiencing free
speech even though I wrote and directed
many plays back in Syria but they were
all censored and monitored and I hadn’t
been as brave as these activists in my
film so I was always seeking an exit
strategy that moment presented itself
back in 2000 when I was invited to the
States as a playwright here I would
pursue my passion for storytelling but
with the fearless voice fast forward
2011 the Syrian uprising erupted and
sure enough the government crushed the
peaceful protest of its own citizens the
protesters were punished and killed and
the uprising was forced to become the
worst humanitarian crisis since World
War two it was about time for me to
utilize my stage as a filmmaker and a
storyteller to amplify the voices of my
own people to share with the universe
their hopes and dreams and their true
identities because I deeply believe that
in order for our society to survive the
voices of the oppressed must be revived
giving a voice to the voiceless should
never be an option but an application
because it is just a noise until you
amplify the voice if your voice doesn’t
have the me
is to be heard it becomes just a noise
so our team and myself decided to
amplify the voices by making a film
about what the Syrians are going through
it took a while until I realized that
the story of iconic Syrian peace
activist Kieth Matar would be a perfect
subject the story of him facing down
gunfire and violence with white roses
and bottles of water is extraordinary
and must be shared even though I wanted
to share with the universe a story of an
oppressed nation I was so eager to
preserve the legacy of this young man
who paid the ultimate price at age of 25
when he was tortured to death by his own
government only for initiating a
beautiful and inspiring peace movement a
hero who had the courage of Martin
Luther King and the leadership of
Mahatma Gandhi and the bravery of an
entire army put together is a story
leader who was given the nickname of
little Gandhi by Washington Post is
somebody who is worth making a film
named after him
little Gandhi summer of 2014 we
connected with the activists inside the
besieged city of darayya and we asked
him if they could introduce us to a
local who has a reasonable camera and
willing to work with us
surprisingly they found him immediately
with 12 bags and metal cases full of
camera gear we traveled to Istanbul to
interview some of the activists who used
to be friend with our hero Matar and
they just fled Syria meanwhile we
connected over the internet from stumble
with our new cameraman in Syria we video
conference the guy and we gave him a
crash course about how to shoot a film
how to frame an image and how to light a
film set he was brilliant he picked her
up meanwhile I had to make at that time
a very unconventional decision because I
wanted to present an honest point of
view as a filmmaker so I decided to
direct the entire film inside the
besieged city of darayya over Skype yes
over Skype yeah you think what I was
smoking yes over Skype see even though
their idea is a war zone area the
activists still have the ability to
connect directly with the satellite to
establish an internet connection and
luckily they had a few laptops so here
is our crazy process so our hotel room
in Istanbul becomes our base camp this
is me grumpy director my coffee and I am
ready to conduct interviews run the show
using my laptop meanwhile my cameraman
inside Syria he will have his laptop
sitting next to him maintaining a
reasonable eye level so when I conduct
the interviews with the activists you
feel I’m sitting right there while I’m
in Istanbul meanwhile his second laptop
will be sitting next to his camera
directed toward his camera so in order
for my cinematographer which is he is
here among us right now can supervise
the technical aspect of that shoot and a
third laptop would be perfect so we
could supervise the entire set air is a
a few restrictions before we get too
excited about what we gonna do number
one no night shoot at all because any
beam of light coming out of any building
the entire building will be brought down
by the government and bombed number two
when bombs started dropping from the sky
on the activist and the city which
happens almost every day the activist
must run and hide in their underground
bunkers therefore the shoot could be
interrupted at any given minute what the
hell a lot of production value I was not
looking forward to weeks and weeks of
inspiring and complicated work and an
incredible work by the activists and our
team and I thought we had enough footage
to make a full film but I never thought
about how to get the footage out of the
besieged city of darayya so I told one
of the activists how about you applaud
them over the internet for us he said
yeah we could do that but it will take
you up to three years for you sir to get
your footage because we could upload up
to one gigabyte per week if our computer
works 24/7 and this is how I lost my
hair in one day
and this is my story thank you know just
hit three years and you thought the
Internet at your house is slow right we
had to wait about six months until one
of the activists really felt for us and
he decided to smuggle the footage for us
using underground tunnels but he wanted
to be hands-free in case he gets chased
he wants to make sure that he runs
freely so the activists said yes we’ll
do it so they ended up splitting out the
footage we had on small Thumba drives
and headed under his clothes everywhere
and this amazing man was able to smuggle
the footage from the area to Damascus to
Lebanon to Turkey where the footage were
applauded for us to start our
post-production process and we’re here
a single experience like this would
change anyone forever it would change
your priorities in life as it changed
mine it would make the lanes you’re
seeing the world through less blurred
but let us not lose sight of what made
us do what we have done it’s giving the
oppressed a voice by sharing a story
that could inspire and inform the public
and make their thoughts less blurred
that was the main reason we should we
share that story with you every single
one of us has to go through a lot of
difficulties you all have the ability to
unmute the voices of the muted so social
justice can be reached and the oppressed
can have a voice
little Gandhi that film that little
thing became a 93 minutes film that was
invited to scream before members of
Congress the United Nation the Canadian
Parliament Amnesty International London
and so many other places and late last
year literally Gandhi became the first
Syrian film ever to officially enter the
race for Best Foreign Language Film for
the 90th Academy Awards
[Applause]
mr. Matar congratulations your voice has
been amplified and your story has been
engraved in stone this is just a story
one story but there are so many stories
and voices out there are waiting for you
to share and amplify the story of a
minority kids who faces racism on daily
basis the voices of a women who got
harassed at her work the voices of over
3 million people right now in north of
Syria that they could all die waiting
for a bomb to drop and it could drop it
any minutes waiting for your voice to
help them out to get out of this
situation to stop the genocide
yes telling these stories might come
with risk but Whitley Gandhi and his
amazing friends have taught me that a
life is worth risking for a story
because you become a leader might be in
a risk taker and if you don’t get to
experience the thrill of taking a risk
then the thrill of living is at risk so
step out of your comfort zone and
utilize every stage you have to unmute
the voices of the muted so social
justice can be reached social justice
can be reached you don’t need to be a
filmmaker or a writer to have a stage
because every single one of you has a
unique platform that could be utilized
to convey a story a teacher with her
students a father with his kids a doctor
with his patients a celebrity with her
followers if each one of you commits to
unmuting a single voice and to sharing
with the rest of the world a single
untold story soon enough millions of
voices will be unmuted one story at a
time and don’t forget in order for our
society to survive the voices of these
looky Gandhi was my story what’s yours
Thanks [Applause]
the year is 2014 to Syrian peace
activists sitting amongst the rubble and
dust surrounded by the ruins of a little
town called Daraa a suburb of the Syrian
capital Damascus the oldest inhabited
capital in the world Daria the home of
350,000 Syrians is now a besieged town
only six thousand people remain making
last stand for freedom and dignity a
town once known for its grapes apricots
and olive trees is now a place where
people cook grass to feed themselves
our film camera is ready to roll trying
to capture the story of both the city
and the war-torn Syria roll camera
[Music]
[Applause]
Vanessa will appear with like a thing of
citizen animals while we were filming I
asked the activists what inspired you to
up rise in 2011 with a bottle of water
and roads knowing the immense risk you
were taking calmly one of them said
Martin Luther King jr. and Mahatma
Gandhi where desperation these heroes
have taught us and inspired us and told
us to stand up and to speak up so our
children can have a better future and
instead of violence we presented roses
and instead of fire
we presented bottles of water actually
we handed them to our oppressors hoping
they’d understand that were not the
enemy but the people who must be served
and not crushed unfortunately we were
left alone in an ocean of blood and a
mass grave that welcomed over a half a
million of our innocent bodies while the
it hits me hard it shook me a moment of
realization and inspiration so deep and
so profound that I could not stop
talking about it for the last four years
I was born in Syria Syria where the
alphabet was founded where the very
first musical note was invented and the
land of the oldest church ever existed a
beautiful ancient country that
unfortunately in the eighties became
known as the republic of fear growing up
I always dreamt of experiencing free
speech even though I wrote and directed
many plays back in Syria but they were
all censored and monitored and I hadn’t
been as brave as these activists in my
film so I was always seeking an exit
strategy that moment presented itself
back in 2000 when I was invited to the
States as a playwright here I would
pursue my passion for storytelling but
with the fearless voice fast forward
2011 the Syrian uprising erupted and
sure enough the government crushed the
peaceful protest of its own citizens the
protesters were punished and killed and
the uprising was forced to become the
worst humanitarian crisis since World
War two it was about time for me to
utilize my stage as a filmmaker and a
storyteller to amplify the voices of my
own people to share with the universe
their hopes and dreams and their true
identities because I deeply believe that
in order for our society to survive the
voices of the oppressed must be revived
giving a voice to the voiceless should
never be an option but an application
because it is just a noise until you
amplify the voice if your voice doesn’t
have the me
is to be heard it becomes just a noise
so our team and myself decided to
amplify the voices by making a film
about what the Syrians are going through
it took a while until I realized that
the story of iconic Syrian peace
activist Kieth Matar would be a perfect
subject the story of him facing down
gunfire and violence with white roses
and bottles of water is extraordinary
and must be shared even though I wanted
to share with the universe a story of an
oppressed nation I was so eager to
preserve the legacy of this young man
who paid the ultimate price at age of 25
when he was tortured to death by his own
government only for initiating a
beautiful and inspiring peace movement a
hero who had the courage of Martin
Luther King and the leadership of
Mahatma Gandhi and the bravery of an
entire army put together is a story
leader who was given the nickname of
little Gandhi by Washington Post is
somebody who is worth making a film
named after him
little Gandhi summer of 2014 we
connected with the activists inside the
besieged city of darayya and we asked
him if they could introduce us to a
local who has a reasonable camera and
willing to work with us
surprisingly they found him immediately
with 12 bags and metal cases full of
camera gear we traveled to Istanbul to
interview some of the activists who used
to be friend with our hero Matar and
they just fled Syria meanwhile we
connected over the internet from stumble
with our new cameraman in Syria we video
conference the guy and we gave him a
crash course about how to shoot a film
how to frame an image and how to light a
film set he was brilliant he picked her
up meanwhile I had to make at that time
a very unconventional decision because I
wanted to present an honest point of
view as a filmmaker so I decided to
direct the entire film inside the
besieged city of darayya over Skype yes
over Skype yeah you think what I was
smoking yes over Skype see even though
their idea is a war zone area the
activists still have the ability to
connect directly with the satellite to
establish an internet connection and
luckily they had a few laptops so here
is our crazy process so our hotel room
in Istanbul becomes our base camp this
is me grumpy director my coffee and I am
ready to conduct interviews run the show
using my laptop meanwhile my cameraman
inside Syria he will have his laptop
sitting next to him maintaining a
reasonable eye level so when I conduct
the interviews with the activists you
feel I’m sitting right there while I’m
in Istanbul meanwhile his second laptop
will be sitting next to his camera
directed toward his camera so in order
for my cinematographer which is he is
here among us right now can supervise
the technical aspect of that shoot and a
third laptop would be perfect so we
could supervise the entire set air is a
a few restrictions before we get too
excited about what we gonna do number
one no night shoot at all because any
beam of light coming out of any building
the entire building will be brought down
by the government and bombed number two
when bombs started dropping from the sky
on the activist and the city which
happens almost every day the activist
must run and hide in their underground
bunkers therefore the shoot could be
interrupted at any given minute what the
hell a lot of production value I was not
looking forward to weeks and weeks of
inspiring and complicated work and an
incredible work by the activists and our
team and I thought we had enough footage
to make a full film but I never thought
about how to get the footage out of the
besieged city of darayya so I told one
of the activists how about you applaud
them over the internet for us he said
yeah we could do that but it will take
you up to three years for you sir to get
your footage because we could upload up
to one gigabyte per week if our computer
works 24/7 and this is how I lost my
hair in one day
and this is my story thank you know just
hit three years and you thought the
Internet at your house is slow right we
had to wait about six months until one
of the activists really felt for us and
he decided to smuggle the footage for us
using underground tunnels but he wanted
to be hands-free in case he gets chased
he wants to make sure that he runs
freely so the activists said yes we’ll
do it so they ended up splitting out the
footage we had on small Thumba drives
and headed under his clothes everywhere
and this amazing man was able to smuggle
the footage from the area to Damascus to
Lebanon to Turkey where the footage were
applauded for us to start our
post-production process and we’re here
a single experience like this would
change anyone forever it would change
your priorities in life as it changed
mine it would make the lanes you’re
seeing the world through less blurred
but let us not lose sight of what made
us do what we have done it’s giving the
oppressed a voice by sharing a story
that could inspire and inform the public
and make their thoughts less blurred
that was the main reason we should we
share that story with you every single
one of us has to go through a lot of
difficulties you all have the ability to
unmute the voices of the muted so social
justice can be reached and the oppressed
can have a voice
little Gandhi that film that little
thing became a 93 minutes film that was
invited to scream before members of
Congress the United Nation the Canadian
Parliament Amnesty International London
and so many other places and late last
year literally Gandhi became the first
Syrian film ever to officially enter the
race for Best Foreign Language Film for
the 90th Academy Awards
[Applause]
mr. Matar congratulations your voice has
been amplified and your story has been
engraved in stone this is just a story
one story but there are so many stories
and voices out there are waiting for you
to share and amplify the story of a
minority kids who faces racism on daily
basis the voices of a women who got
harassed at her work the voices of over
3 million people right now in north of
Syria that they could all die waiting
for a bomb to drop and it could drop it
any minutes waiting for your voice to
help them out to get out of this
situation to stop the genocide
yes telling these stories might come
with risk but Whitley Gandhi and his
amazing friends have taught me that a
life is worth risking for a story
because you become a leader might be in
a risk taker and if you don’t get to
experience the thrill of taking a risk
then the thrill of living is at risk so
step out of your comfort zone and
utilize every stage you have to unmute
the voices of the muted so social
justice can be reached social justice
can be reached you don’t need to be a
filmmaker or a writer to have a stage
because every single one of you has a
unique platform that could be utilized
to convey a story a teacher with her
students a father with his kids a doctor
with his patients a celebrity with her
followers if each one of you commits to
unmuting a single voice and to sharing
with the rest of the world a single
untold story soon enough millions of
voices will be unmuted one story at a
time and don’t forget in order for our
society to survive the voices of these
looky Gandhi was my story what’s yours
Thanks [Applause]
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