Erik Valenčič

Of the 1.5 million Assyrians living in Iraq in 2003, only 250,000 have remained there until today. A large majority has fled their homes, seeing no immediate end to war and terror. The Assyrians have been the guardians of the civilisation for eight thousand years. With their disappearance, the Middle East is losing one of its fundamental identities, while the world is losing part of the human race.

A Slovenian documentary film.

The Front Lines of Kurdistan is a TV documentary about the modern history of the Kurds, an oppressed and besieged people attempting to create an independent state on the ruins of Middle East. The Kurds are the largest ethnic group without one; Kurdish-inhabited areas reach into Iran, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. The documentary takes us to the battle lines between Kurdish forces and the Islamic State in Kirkuk and the Sinjar Mountains (Iraq), and Kobani (Syria). In December 2014 and January 2015, Erik Valenčič made it to the front lines of the fierce offensives and interviewed key figures in the struggle for an independent Kurdistan.

In the depths of the Algerian desert the Sahrawi people have been dwelling in the refugee camps for over 40 years. Camps gradually turned into settlements, named after towns in their homeland Western Sahara. One of them is called El Aaiún.