Nowhere to Hide

Nowhere to Hide is an immersive and uncompromising first-hand reflection of the resilience and fortitude of a male nurse working and raising his children in Jalawla, Iraq, an increasingly dangerous and inaccessible part of the world. After US troops left Iraq in 2011, director Zaradasht Ahmed gave Nori Sharif a camera and taught him how to use it, asking him to capture the reality of life in his community and the hospital where he worked. Over the next few years Sharif filmed his patients, but the population—including most of the hospital staff—flees when the Iraqi army pulls out in 2013. Sharif is one of the few who remain. When the Islamic State advances on Jalawla in 2014 and finally takes over the city, Sharif continues to film. However, he now faces a vital decision: stay and dedicate himself to treating those he vowed to help, or leave and protect his family—in the process becoming one of thousands of internally displaced people in Iraq. Screening followed by discussion with filmmaker Zaradasht Ahmed, producer & editor Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas, and Belkis Wille, senior Iraq researcher, Human Rights Watch. Moderated by Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa Executive Director, HRW.

“It’s difficult to diagnose this war. It’s an undiagnosed war. You only see the symptoms—the killing, displacements, blood baths. But you don’t understand the disease.”
—Nori Sharif, film subject, Nowhere to Hide