Khaled Khatib, Aleppo Media Center photographer and cinematographer of The White Helmets documentary that won an Oscar last Sunday night, had come to Turkey a week ago with the intention of being at the Academy Awards ceremony that night, but it was not to be.
Khatib says that he was granted a U.S. visa after receiving a formal invitation to attend the prestigious event but was told by Turkish officials not long before his scheduled flight that there was a problem with his passport that could possibly be resolved, but it would take some time.
Since the award ceremony was not about to wait for his arrival, time was something Khaled did not have, so his plans to fly to Los Angeles had to be scuttled.
It seems that the Assad regime may have revoked his Syrian passport out of frustration because the scurrilous dictator is resentful of the international attention that the heroes of the Syrian Civil Defense, whom he refers to as “terrorists”, have been getting.
Since Khatib was already in Istanbul, Samer al-Kadri and his wife Gulnar Hajo, owners of Pages Bookstore and Café, made plans to host the film screening and reception in his honor.
After the screening of the film, Khatib introduced himself and spoke about what it meant to be a White Helmet volunteer.
He stressed the importance of the White Helmet motto; “To save a life is to save all of humanity” — which is a verse from the Quran that inspires the heroic first responders on a daily basis.
At the end of every day they forget about how exhausted they are when they recall the lives that have been saved, he added.
He spoke about the search and rescue training they received several years ago, and about little Mahmoud, the miracle baby who was the only member of his family to survive the barrel bomb that was dropped on his home and is now living in Turkey.
When asked why the film had focused only on the White Helmets in Aleppo, and not those in other cities like Homs or Daraa, Khatib explained that Aleppo was more easily accessible for the film’s foreign filmmakers due to its proximity to the border of Turkey.
The White Helmet screening and reception was held on Thursday, March 2, and Orient Net took advantage of the opportunity to spend some time with Khatib and ask him a few questions.
Q: What does winning an Oscar for The White Helmets mean to you?
A: “It means a lot to us because it has allowed our message to reach the international community. We are so happy that the film reflected the real picture from inside Syria. But our real joy will be when we are able to return to a new free Syria.
Q: What do you think the future holds for the White Helmets?
A: We want to rebuild Syria and start from the zero point of the infrastructure. We also want to help all Syrian refugees to return to Syria.
Q: What is your personal message?
A: My message is do not get stuck on sympathizing with the White Helmets for the time being, or being happy with winning an Oscar prize; focus instead on standing with the Syrian people and help them by making continuous efforts to empower them.
Q: How did you feel about the cancellation of your flight to the U.S.?
A: I was informed by authorities at the airport in Istanbul that I would not be able to fly to the U.S. I was annoyed that I couldn’t attend the Academy Awards celebration, but I was happy that The White Helmets film won the Oscar prize.
Q: Assad has said that the White Helmets are terrorists, what do you say?
A: This is a reaction from a real criminal whose crimes have been obvious to everyone. We don’t care about what he says. We tried in all our documentations to show the whole world who the real criminal is in Syria.
Q: Do you have a call you would like to issue to the rest of the world?
A: My call is to all governments to stop the brutality in Syria, especially to the U.S. and Russia, to help in stopping the aggression against Syrian civilians.
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