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European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations

District Zero at San Sebastián International Film Festival

"District Zero" tells the story of a Syrian refugee, Maamun, who lives in Jordan’s Zaatari camp. He runs a mobile phone and print shop. With his work, he helps his fellow refugees to connect to their loved ones still in Syria and produces prints of their memories stored in the pictures on their mobile phones.

What’s hidden inside the smartphone of a refugee?

When filming in Zaatari camp, we discover that in Maamun’s tiny shop no-one wants to print off photos of the war – there is much more to the refugees’ sense of identity than that. They want to remember, they want to emphasise, their Syrian identity – their identity as individual people,” explained Jorge Fernández Mayoral, one of the three directors of the film.

In this documentary, through the mobile phones of the people in the camps, the public is brought into the reality of the lives of the refugees.

British actress Michelle Dockery, known for her role as Lady Mary in "Downton Abbey", has lent her voice for the trailer of "District Zero". Watch trailer above. She visited Zaatari camp in 2013 with Oxfam. As humanitarian ambassador, Dockery helps promote "District Zero" in a bid to raise awareness about the Syria crisis. "District Zero is an intense fascinating film that takes us into the often invisible world of refugees: a world of chaos and uprooted people. It is an important film because it shows us the complex human realities of people who have been driven to extremes, but who, against many odds, still have hope”.

Screenings at San Sebastián International Film Festival:

Sunday 20/09 at 8:30pm in Cines Príncipe, 9 (Premiere)
Monday 21/09 at 6:00pm in Cines Príncipe, 10
Tuesday 22/09 at 6:30pm in Cines Príncipe, 10

The documentary was produced by Arena Comunicación and Txalap.art, with the support of Oxfam and the European Commission. It participates in the Zinemira section of the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

Read more about the EUsaveLIVES-You Save Lives campaign.