Screening and discussion of 'Això Era Casa Meva / This Was My Home' a documentary on the Syrian Civil War directed by Xavi Segura, featuring Gabriel Garroum, PhD candidate, Department of War Studies.

Panel:

• Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin, Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Theology and Religious Studies
• Michele Fiascaris, award-winning film writing director, as well as co-director of Shorts on Taps
• Gabriel Garroum, PhD candidate, Department of War Studies
• Chair: Dr Pablo de Orellana, Department of War Studies 

About the film

Gabriel Garroum, Syrian-Catalan, returns to Syria after 7 years of war. Through this journey, he will re-discover the two main cities of the country: Damascus, the capital city, and Aleppo, the hometown of his father.

The film explores experiences of war through the testimonies of local Syrians and the members of his family. Lived experiences of war that, through Gabriel's analysis, will help us understand how violence and the material destruction of space transform people’s identities.

Biographies  

Xavi Segura

Fine Arts graduate specialised in photography and video-art (University of Barcelona). MA in Filmmaking at EMAV (Escola de Mitjans Audiovisuals, Barcelona). Currently working as Filmmaker at the Branded Content production company, Lavinia Next, in Barcelona. He has directed and written the short films "Atascado" (2015), "Pegados" (2016) and has produced and co-directed "El Sueño Espacial" (2016), a short film featured in multiple festivals. Passionate about small stories and the multiple possibilities that the audiovisual medium can offer. ”Això era casa meva" (2019) is his first documentary film.

Gabriel Garroum

Spanish-Syrian interdisciplinary researcher, currently pursuing an ESRC-funded PhD in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. His main research areas are political violence, urban warfare, contemporary security issues/ practices, and critical IR theory. He is interested in the various ways visual methodologies and practices allow us to explore the politics of violence and identity. Regularly featured in different Spanish and International media outlets regarding Middle Eastern politics and security issues. He has lived in Spain, Lebanon, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

 Michele Fiascaris

Michele is an award-winning writer director. He has directed content for brands such as Nike, Fiat, P&G and many more. A graduate of the London Film Academy, Michele has debuted with the feature film 'Fat Cat'. His latest short film "Rain Catcher" is distributed by HBO and has been selected in 5 Oscar-Qualifying festivals and 3 BAFTA-Qualifying festivals, receiving 2 nominations for main prize. The film has premiered at the world's N.1 genre film festival, Sitges Film Festival, followed by Holly Shorts in Hollywood, CA, the Cleveland International Film Festival, London Short Film Festival, Brussels Fantastic Film Festival, Leeds International Film Festival and BiFan (Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival) in South Korea. Michele has recently directed the official trailer for the largest Asian film festival in Europe, the Far East Film Festival 20th.