On 31 March, the film ‘Jiyan: la vie’ was screened at Ethnokino Bern. Inspired by a true story, ‹Jiyan: la vie› represents the journey of Nerol, a 17 year old Syrian Kurd who arrived in Switzerland without his parents. He spends his winter in anguish and insomnia because of his past and the situation of his mother who stayed in the country, then in conflict.

What makes this movie special is that it was shot in the asylum centre in the Canton of Valais. For years, SCI has volunteers who are doing their European Voluntary Service there. All the actors are young people from the centre and the director of the film, Otis Birdy, shot the film while doing his civil service at the asylum centre. Some SCI volunteers work with these young people, they informed us about the project and here we are.

We were lucky to have the main actor, the director and some other contributors to this masterpiece and discuss with the audience different points about the story, and also a lot of technical funny stories the crew shared as this project had no fundings and now it is winning many international awards.

For more than 100 years the international network of SCI promotes a culture of peace by organising international volunteering projects aimed at creating paths of social inclusion and social justice, in a constant effort to overcome cultural barriers and divisions among people and, above all, to work on the socio-political dynamics that determine them.

Thank you to Haykel Boutabba for the article and the pictures!