Little Survivors

Little Survivors tells the story about four Yezidi children in post-IS era Kurdistan (Northern Iraq). The Yezidi community was severely attacked by ISIS during the war in 2014, they became victims of human trafficking, separated from their families, deployed as slaves or trained as child soldiers in Raqqa. The makers follow four young survivors who have suffered trauma in different ways, but they focus on their resilience, courage and creativity.

In the background, the Belgian architects of "Maggie Program" are building a tent structure of sustainable materials that will serve as a center for trauma therapy.

In a landscape that radiates an idyllic innocence, the children tell about the atrocities they’ve experienced. Their verbal testimony was linked to a "sandplay" session: a therapeutic intervention with miniatures in a sandbox. How does a child deal with this traumatic experience, how does it affect the subconscious mind and how does this influence their daily life?