Day: September 11, 2022

Strolling along the ancient ruins of Hatra in Iraq’s north, dozens of visitors admired the site, where local initiatives seek to turn over a new leaf after a brief but brutal jihadist rule.

Designated an endangered world heritage site by UNESCO, Hatra dates back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC.

It is a two-hour drive from Mosul, the former “capital” proclaimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, which was recaptured in 2017 by Iraqi forces and an international coalition that backed them.

A tour of the site on Saturday, the first of its kind organized by a private museum in Mosul, aimed to boost tourism in the area.

Some 40 visitors, most of them Iraqis, were allowed to walk around the more than 2,000-year-old archaeological site in the golden hour of twilight.

The tourists took selfies in front of impressive colonnades and inspected the reliefs vandalized by IS jihadists.

“It has great history” allowing a peek into an ancient civilization, said Luna Batota, a 33-year-old on tour with her Belgian husband.

“A lot of history but at the same time a lot of unfortunate events took place here with IS,” she told AFP.

Batota works for a pharmaceutical company in Belgium, where she has lived since the age of nine.

Twenty-four years later, this is the first time she returns to her homeland.

Visiting Hatra stirred up “mixed feelings” for her, she said. “You see bullet holes, you see many empty bullets.”

An important religious and trading center under the Parthian empire, Hatra had imposing fortifications and magnificent temples, blending Greek and Roman architectural styles with oriental decorative elements.

In 2015, IS released a video showing its militants destroying a series of reliefs, firing at them and hacking away at a statue with a pickaxe.

In February, the authorities unveiled three restorations at the site: a Roman-style sculpture of a life-size figure and reliefs on the side of the great temple.

‘Not only war’ 

Five years after the defeat of IS, Mosul and its surroundings have regained a sense of normalcy, even as rehabilitation efforts suffer setbacks and many areas still bear the scars of the fight against the jihadists.

The tour of Hatra was organized by the Mosul Heritage House, a private museum inaugurated in June.

But even before it, the site drew individual visitors, according to one of the organizers, Fares Abdel Sattar, a 60-year-old engineer.

This new initiative seeks to “showcase the heritage and identity” of Mosul and its broader Nineveh province, he said.

After its rise to power in 2014 and the conquest of swathes of Iraq and Syria, IS faced counteroffensives in both countries. Iraqi forces finally claimed victory in late 2017.

As Iraq gradually opens up to foreign tourism, dozens of visitors — particularly from the West — are now exploring the country, with some even venturing into Mosul.

The Hatra group are pioneers, visiting at a time when the US, British and other governments are warning their citizens against travel to Iraq, citing the risks of terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict and civil unrest.

The tourism sector also suffered a setback with the case of British pensioner James Fitton, who was detained and condemned to 15 years in jail over pottery shards he picked at an archaeological site, before a court in July overturned the sentence and he flew back home.

Religious tourism to the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf has been thriving, mostly from Iran.

However, challenges remain and tourist infrastructure is still basic in Iraq, a country rich in oil but ravaged by decades of fighting.

“Mosul isn’t only war, IS, terrorism,” said Beriar Bahaa al-Din, a doctoral student in anthropology at the University of Exeter in Britain, on the Hatra visit.

“Mosul is a civilization, heritage, culture,” he added.

“This impressive site should be full of tourists from across the globe.”
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Steven Spielberg finally turned the camera on his own childhood — from his parents’ troubled marriage to anti-Semitic bullying — as his new movie “The Fabelmans” received its world premiere on a star-studded Saturday at the Toronto film festival.

Considered one of Hollywood’s greatest living directors, with classics from “Jaws” to “E.T.”, Spielberg told a rapturous audience how he had long wanted to make such a deeply personal movie, but had eventually been motivated by the “fear” of the pandemic.

“I don’t think anybody knew in March or April of 2020 what was going to be the state of the art, the state of life, even a year from then,” said Spielberg.

“I just felt that if I was going to leave anything behind, what was the thing that I really need to resolve and unpack about my mom and my dad and my sisters?” he said after the screening at North America’s biggest film festival.

“It wasn’t now or never, but it almost felt that way,” said the 75-year-old.

The movie — which will be released in November — is technically semi-autobiographical, following young Sammy Fabelman and his family, although the parallels to Spielberg’s own life could hardly be more clear.

Like the real Spielberg, the Fabelmans move from New Jersey to Arizona and eventually California, with Sammy falling in love with filmmaking and honing his craft as a young director with the help of willing friends and improvised camera tricks.

“It was really using glue and spit, trying to figure out how to put things together,” recalled Spielberg after the film, which recreates many of the amateur movies he made as a teenager.

“I made all the behind-the-scenes stuff in this movie much better than the actual 8mm films I shot… it was a great do-over!”

‘Outsider’

While directing and filmmaking are a source of comfort and escapism for young Sammy, the movie tackles head-on his problems at home, including within the marriage of his parents — played by Michelle Williams and Paul Dano.

Another sequence recalls anti-Semitic taunts by two bullies at his California high school — a real-life incident Spielberg said he wanted to include in the film, without placing it center stage.

“Bullying is only a small aspect of my life. Anti-semitism is an aspect of my life but it isn’t any kind of a governing force in my life,” he said.

“It made me very, very aware of being an outsider growing up.”

Before the screening, Spielberg noted that “The Fabelmans” is his first-ever film to be officially entered at a film festival, marking a coup for the Toronto event.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), renowned for its large cinephile crowds as well as A-list stars, was hit badly by the pandemic, but this year has seen the return of packed audiences and red carpets.

No ‘swan song’

Earlier on Saturday, Jennifer Lawrence drew screaming fans to the red carpet for “Causeway,” an indie drama in which she plays a wounded Army engineer struggling to recover from conflict-zone trauma back in her hometown of New Orleans.

Daniel Craig and the star-studded cast of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” arrived in Toronto for the whodunit sequel’s premiere.

Director Rian Johnson and Craig’s gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc return for a new case featuring Edward Norton’s shady billionaire and his wealthy friends on a private Greek island.

Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Janelle Monae and Leslie Odom Jr co-star in the second installment of a budding “Knives Out” franchise which has been taken over by Netflix.

“I’m gonna keep making these until Daniel blocks me on his phone,” joked Johnson after the premiere.

Similarly, Spielberg assured the Toronto audience that reports he could step away from Hollywood after finally making the “The Fabelmans” were wide off the mark.

“It is not because I have decided to retire and this is my swan song… don’t believe any of that!” he said.

TIFF runs until September 18.
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World No. 1 Iga Swiatek defeated Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur to win her second Grand Slam title of the year with a straight sets victory in the U.S. Open final on Saturday.

Polish star Swiatek overcame a spirited second set from fifth seed Jabeur to win 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) in 1 hour, 52 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The victory followed Swiatek’s win at the French Open in June, making the 21-year-old the first woman since 2016 to win two Grand Slams in a single season.

Swiatek’s 10th career title also extended her remarkable record in tournament finals.

She has now won her last 10 finals, without dropping a set.

Swiatek collapsed on the court in relief after a win that saw her earn $2.6 million in prize money.

“I’m really glad it’s not in cash,” she quipped as she was presented with her winner’s cheque for a tournament she entered with low expectations.

“For sure this tournament was really challenging because it’s New York — it’s so loud, it’s so crazy,” said Swiatek who was also French Open champion in 2020.

“So many temptations in the city, so many people I’ve met who are so inspiring — it’s really mind-blowing for me and I’m so proud I could handle it mentally.”

But the loss was another agonizing near-miss for Jabeur, who had been bidding to become the first woman from Africa to win a Grand Slam.

The 28-year-old from Tunis also lost in the final of Wimbledon in July.

“I really tried but Iga didn’t make it easy for me,” Jabeur said. “She deserved to win today. I don’t like her very much today but it’s OK.”

The 28-year-old said she is already drawing up a battle plan for 2023.

At the Australian Open, she will have no points to defend having missed the 2022 tournament before she suffered a shock first round exit at the French Open.

Despite being the Wimbledon runner-up, ranking points were stripped from the event by the WTA after the All England Club banned Russian and Belarusian players.

“Points-wise, I don’t have defending points in Australia, in French Open, in Wimbledon, which is good. It’s a good thing. I’m definitely going for the No. 1 spot,” she said.

“I still have the Masters (WTA Finals in Fort Worth). I will maybe show myself there and build more confidence to really get ready for the next season because I feel like I have a lot to show.”

Jabeur, a late bloomer on the tour having still been outside the top 30 at the end of 2020, believes history shows that time remains on her side when it comes to her Grand Slam future.

“But I’m not someone that’s going to give up. I am sure I’m going to be in the final again and I will try my best to win it,” she said. 
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This Monday, the cast and crew of the Broadway musical “Come From Away” have an appointment, as usual, with an aircraft carrier. 

Every year to honor Sept. 11, they help box thousands of meals for food banks across the city and perform for the volunteers aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid. 

“9/11 was a worldwide event. It was a time when we all felt helpless, and it was a time when we all wanted to help. And I think those sentiments continue right now,” said David Hein, who with his wife, Irene Sankoff, wrote the book, music and lyrics to “Come From Away.” 

The musical is set in the small Newfoundland town of Gander, which opened its arms to some 7,000 airline passengers diverted there when the U.S. government shut down airspace during 9/11. 

In a matter of a few hours, the town was overwhelmed by 38 planeloads of travelers from dozens of countries and religions, yet locals went to work in their kitchens and cleaned up spare rooms to offer space and food to the newcomers. 

Bittersweet visit

This year’s visit to the Intrepid by the New York cast will be bittersweet; it’s the last time the show will send representatives from Broadway. The show closes Oct. 2 after a five-year run. 

But it’s fitting that one of its last acts will be giving. Few shows have left such a legacy of connecting with the community — concerts for cancer victims, fundraisers for farmers facing drought and even cast members handing out dollar bills to the needy in the New York subway. 

“It’s been incredible to see us be inspired by the Newfoundlanders and then have this story inspire other people to do even more good,” Hein says. “It’s humbling to see that Shakespeare quote in action: ‘How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.’” 

Giving back from the beginning

Giving back was baked into the show since the first workshop at Sheridan College in Ontario, where a hat was passed to raise money for animal shelters overwhelmed with new kittens. A benefit concert planned for later this month at the Gander airport will do the same “because kittens never stop,” Hein says, laughing. 

Since its debut, the musical — under director Christopher Ashley, who won a Tony for his work — has not changed, but it has seemed to take on different issues, depending on real events swirling at the time. 

The show’s first preview at its pre-Broadway run at Seattle Rep — Nov. 13, 2015 — came just hours after 130 people were killed in a coordinated terrorist attack in Paris. Offstage, the creators wondered what to do. Should they say something? Change the show? 

“I think it was Chris Ashley who said, ‘I think we just put on the show. I think this show says look for the helpers. It says, remember there’s more of us trying to do good than there are people trying to do harm. It says so much just by telling the story.’” 

Broadway opening

When Ivanka Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saw it in 2017 on Broadway, the issue was immigration and walls. Trudeau got onstage and said he was pleased, “the world gets to see what it is to lean on each other and be there for each other through the darkest times.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic gave the musical a different color, a sense of entering a period of uncertainty and reinforcing the notion of a community coming together. It was no surprise to Sankoff and Hein that the show’s costume department immediately started sewing masks for front line workers. 

“At a time when people were actually out of work and terrified that their industry wasn’t going to come back, so many of our company were saying, ‘How can I also help?’” Sankoff says. 

While the terror attacks are ever-present in the musical, the focus is on the Canadian response. The words “World Trade Center” and “terrorist” are each uttered only once. The creators like to call it a “9/12 story.” 

“We really did not want to do a show that was about 9/11,” says Hein, who was with his wife in New York on that fateful day. “We wanted to do a show about Newfoundland and how they had responded because that gave us hope, contrasting what we had felt on that day.” ​

North American tour

The Broadway version may soon be gone, but the future is still bright for “Come From Away.” There’s a North American tour, a production in London and one touring Australia. A version in Finland opens this month, one recently opened in Holland, another in Argentina and one in Sweden. 

“What’s amazing is how universal this story is. You have to change elements of it within a language and within a culture. But the concept of welcoming strangers and a world coming together is something that people are, I think, really hungry for,” says Hein. 

He and his wife and their 9-year-old daughter will be spending the 9/11 anniversary in Gander, at one of several concerts and benefits planned to commemorate the 21st year after the attacks. 

“9/11 is a national day of service. But I think what we’ve also learned is that any day can be a day of service — at any moment,” says Hein. “Kindness is a daily practice and one that we can all use a reminder for each day.” 
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