THE MISSING

ABOUT
The Missing documentary tells the story of the genocide, captivity, displacement, and perseverance of the Yazidi people of Northern Iraq. This project is as much an investigative reporting of the crimes against humanity committed on the Yazidi people at the hands of ISIS—and the justice they’re seeking— as it is a documentation of the incredible struggle this community faces in maintaining their cultural and religious identity as they try to heal the deep wounds left by ISIS.
Whereas many investigative documentaries are told through the prism of aid workers and humanitarians from the outside looking in at a problem, this project aims to give agency to those directly affected by the crisis. The Missing is an immersive cinema vérité experience as we rely on traditional single-camera shooting from director Hasan Oswald as he closely embeds with his characters. Inspired by the film Born Into Brothels, we also provided cameras for the kids to enable them to describe their own journey of trauma, loss, and rehabilitation.
A BIT OF BACKGROUND
In 2014, more than 400,00 Yazidis in Iraq, a non-Muslim religious minority, were targeted by the so called Islamic State of Iraq and Syira (ISIS) in a ruthless campaign of genocide. The aftermath of the systematic killing of men, and kidnapping and enslavement of women and children, has been so severe that it has destroyed the fabric of Yazidi society and has displaced an entire people throughout Iraq and much of the world.