Documentary cinematographer barred from travel to Oscars
Syrian first responder who filmed war footage denied entry to U.S.
Though only 40 minutes long, The White Helmets may not be an easy documentary to watch.
Filmed in war-ravaged Syria, its tense scenes capture children being pulled, crying and bloody, out of rubble. Billowing clouds of dust engulf nearby buildings following airstrikes.
The documentary focuses on the Syrian Civil Defense, better known as the White Helmets, a group of Syrian civilians who have volunteered to act as first responders amid their country’s brutal, yearslong civil war. Almost daily, the White Helmets risk their lives by rushing into just-bombed areas of Aleppo to search for survivors.
A handful of those White Helmets, including 21-year-old Khaled Khatib, took additional hazards by filming such rescue work. Khatib, who is listed as one of three cinematographers for The White Helmets, was thrilled when the documentary was nominated for an Academy Award.
After weeks of uncertainty following President Donald Trump’s now-frozen travel ban, Khatib was granted a visa to travel to Los Angeles for the Oscars on Sunday. However, the Associated Press reported that, in a last-minute decision by the Department of Homeland Security, Khatib reportedly will be blocked from entering the United States after all.
The AP cited an internal Trump administration correspondence that said “derogatory information” had been found on Khatib, who had been scheduled to travel Saturday from Istanbul to Los Angeles on Turkish Airlines. The term is “a broad category that can include anything from terror connections to passport irregularities,” according to the AP.
According to internal correspondence, Khatib was detained by Turkish authorities and would need a passport waiver to travel to the United States, the AP reported.
When reached Saturday on WhatsApp, Khatib declined to comment.
Homeland Security officials declined to speak specifically about Khatib’s case, citing the department’s privacy policy.
On Saturday afternoon, Khatib tweeted that his passport had not been accepted and indicated he had spent three days at the airport.
Khatib said he was a teenager when war broke out in Syria and was inspired to record footage for the White Helmets group after seeing foreign journalists and TV crews travel to his home city of Aleppo to document the civil war.
“I watched them dreaming that I could do that: tell the story of my city and my people,” Khatib said in a Facebook post. “When I saw the work of the White Helmets, I knew that was the story of Syria I wanted to tell to tell the world.”
In November 2015, director Orlando von Einsiedel and producer Joanna Natasegara reached out to Khatid about making a documentary. He agreed, spending months learning more about the craft from fellow cinematographer Frank Dow, according to the Syria Campaign.
When the film was nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary short subject Jan. 24, Khatib was bursting with pride.
However, on Jan. 27, Trump signed executive orders that not only suspended admission of all refugees into the United States for 120 days but also implemented “new vetting measures” to screen out “radical Islamic terrorists.” Refugee entry from Syria was suspended indefinitely.
Those orders have since been challenged and blocked. Trump has indicated he wants to write a “brand new” immigration order.
As recently as last week, Khatib said he planned to travel to Los Angeles in the hopes that a win would inspire those back home.
However, on Saturday morning, Khatib tweeted that he would not be attending the Oscars after all “due to intensity of work.”
Several hours later, he posted the message on Twitter saying his passport had not been accepted.
If The White Helmets wins Sunday, the Oscar will go to von Einsiedel and Natasegara.
Khatib is not the only person whose Oscars travel plans were affected by Trump’s executive order. Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose film The Salesman is up for an Academy Award for best foreign film, said in January he would not attend the awards ceremony as a way to protest the “unjust conditions” of Trump’s travel ban.