DUBAI: The International Documentary Association (IDA) is rallying around Syrian director Feras Fayyad after his claims that he was denied an American visa.
The international documentary community sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week, urging him to let Fayyad into the country to represent his film, “The Cave,” one of 15 feature documentaries still in contention for the Academy Award.
“Feras Fayyad is a respected and accomplished documentary filmmaker, but because he is Syrian he has been denied a visa to visit the United States in support of his latest film, “The Cave,” distributed by National Geographic Documentary Films,” the letter, which was signed by the IDA’s executive director, Simon Kilmurry, said.
The letter was signed by over 100 notable figures in the documentary community, including Oscar winner Alex Gibney and Academy member Joan Churchill.
The director, who made history when his documentary “Last Men in Aleppo” was nominated for an Academy Award, claimed that he was barred from entering the US due to visa issues in a lengthy text uploaded to his official Facebook page on Dec. 29.
“I hold a Syrian passport and I am currently living in exile in Copenhagen, Denmark... I was meant to be in the United States right now, but instead I am stuck because the visa I need to enter United States has not been granted to me,” Fayyad wrote.
It’s not the first time the director and his team have encountered visa-related issues. Last year, the producer on Fayyad’s Oscar-nominated film was initially refused entry to the US due to the short-lived “travel ban,” but was granted a last-minute visa just days before the award’s ceremony.
Read the IDA’s full letter in support of Fayyad below.
“To: Mike Pompeo, United States Secretary of State
Dear Secretary Pompeo,
Feras Fayyad is a respected and accomplished documentary filmmaker, but because he is Syrian he has been denied a visa to visit the United States in support of his latest film, The Cave, distributed by National Geographic Documentary Films.
Feras’ work speaks for itself. His last film, Last Men in Aleppo, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary, broadcast nationally on PBS’ POV strand and won an Emmy. The Cave premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival where it won the Audience Choice Award and has been shortlisted for an Academy Award. The film tells an urgent story of doctors saving lives while under constant bombardment in Syria.
In December, Feras was blocked from attending the IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles, where The Cave won an award for Best Writing.
Feras himself is a survivor of torture at the hands of the Syrian regime. He is being denied entry to the US purely because of where he was born. He is being denied a voice to speak to us out of fear. Likewise, Americans are being denied the opportunity to hear from a vital voice in documentary filmmaking.
The documentary community calls on the US Government and the US Department of State to reverse this arbitrary decision and immediately grant Feras Fayyad a visa to visit the US.”
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