SISTERHOOD - „Angels of Sinjar / Anioły z Sindżaru”, dir. Hanna Polak

In this episode the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Hanna Polak talks about her latest film, the harrowing documentary ‘Angels of Sinjar’, about the massacre of the Yazidi minority by ISIS. Polak centres her story around two characters: Hanifa and Saeed, juxtaposing - in her own words - the female and male experience of suffering resulting from the loss of family and witnessing genocide. The director, known for her exceptionally long documentation process (she can accompany her characters for up to a dozen years), discusses about her working methods, the emotions that accompany her during the filming of extremely difficult scenes, the moments when she turns off the camera and her perception of her role as a documentary director. In the episode, we also ask Hanna Polak about whether and what impact the making of the film had on the fate of its protagonists, and about educating the wider ‘Western’ world about tragic events that often find little media attention.