Iraq - Chiese (Churches)

Christians of Nineveh; A documentary

ELISABETTA VALGIUSTI #5
BY MICHAELA BIFERALI
Septemner 9, 07

The world always needs courage and enthusiasm: Elisabetta Valgiusti has both of them. Valgiusti, an Italian laywoman and film-maker who attends Mass daily, has been chosen by Inside the Vatican as one of our "Top Ten" because of her efforts to remind the whole world of Christian minorities, often forgotten by the rest of the world, especially those who live in war zones, but also those who have to coexist with truly different cultures.

Photo: Valgiusti with a guide in Iraq during the filming of her documentary The Christians of Nineveh (Photo by Paolo Grana)

Valgiusti heads an organization called Salva i Monasteri (Save the Monasteries) which she founded to try to bring attention to the plight of Christians in places like Kosovo and Iraq where Christianity and its heritage face persecution and destruction.

During 2004, 2005 and 2006, she traveled repeatedly to Kosovo and Iraq to capture the dramatic situations of Christian minorities inside these countries in film documentaries.

Who is Elisabetta Valgiusti? She is not world-famous. But she is one of the most courageous Christian filmmakers in the world, a creative and capable director with a penchant for picking up her camera and heading off, alone, to the most dangerous parts of the world to record the lives of ordinary believers caught in crossfires not of their making.

Born in Venezuela to an Italian father who was a dentist, Valgiusti studied cinematography in the US before returning to Italy, where she has studied theology, philosophy and iconography at three pontifical universities (Pontifical Institute Theresianum, Pontifical Gregorian University and Pontifical Institute San Anselmo) while working in television and cinema, producing programs about childhood and films for television on Christian figures like St. Catherine of Siena and St. Ambrose.

In 2004, her life changed course. On March 17 and 18, 2004, the Orthodox monasteries of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija were struck with unexpected fury. About 35 monasteries were completely destroyed, among them the Church of the Holy Virgin of Lyevish, a jewel of medieval art. Valgiusti decided to do something against the destruction of a Christian culture, and founded Salva i Monasteri. "The incapacity of the international community to protect Serbian churches and monasteries in Kosovo, the indifference of the media, which dedicated very little coverage to the desecration of these precious medieval treasures, has filled us all with pain,' she said at the time. "Consequently, we launched the Salva i Monasteri of Kosovo campaign." (The official website is www.salvaimonasteri.org.)

The movement has grown over the past three years and now includes more than 200 eminent intellectuals, art historians, philosophers and others with a conscience and intellectual integrity, all interested in stopping violence against artistic treasures of world importance.

"It is a difficult task to involve people or to attract their attention, but I remember that suddenly I was hit by a strong will to react," she told Inside the Vatican. "I could not bear any more the weight of silence."

With the help of a film crew from many countries, Valgiusti directed an hour-long documentary entitled The Enclave of Kosovo. After the presentation of the documentary in Rome in October 2004, Italian public attention was alerted to this tragic situation. Before her efforts, only Massimo Cacciari, mayor of Venice, and the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire had emphasized the serious situation.

Thanks to Elisabetta’s documentary, people really understood what was happening and the indifference was swept away. This aroused our own interest in her work and ideas.

I met Elisabetta only in December. I found her a very direct person, with an instinctive approach. She is filled with faith, fond of her work, and very good at conveying her enthusiasm.

Together we watched her most recent documentary, Cristiani di Ninive ("Christians of Nineveh), recently presented in Venice. During the film she explained details of the footage and answered questions.

She spoke about the fear she experiences whenever she sets out to make a new film, aware that she is going to unknown places, but said that fear is followed by a calm that sets in as soon as she reaches her destination.

After traveling in Iraq twice this year, Elisabetta was enchanted by Iraq’s Christians and their profound faith, which is deeply rooted in their life and manners. Many of them helped Elisabetta when she was in Iraq, including Msgr. Mikhael Al Jamil, patriarchal vicar of the Syrian Catholic Church of Antioch, Msgr. Luis Sako, bishop of Kerkuk, and Georghes Casmoussa, bishop of Mosul.

The documentary, filmed in Iraq, shows many monasteries and churches in the Mosul region (called Nineveh in ancient times), where there are some of the most ancient Christian communities in the world. Years of wars, persecutions, and embargoes have led to the emigration of thousands of young people and impoverished many of the Christians who remain, whose cultural, social and economic level used to be quite high.

The witness of the Church in Iraq and its almost 1,400 year coexistence with Muslims provide a valuable source of cultural, spiritual and social knowledge, particularly useful in coming to the right interpretation of some aspects of the ongoing conflict and the creation of adequate tools and forms of relationship.

Valgiusti says she fears the disappearance of the Christian community in Iraq and in the Middle East in the years ahead. But as long as they remain, she pledges her solidarity with that community in her work and prayers.

http://www.salvaimonasteri.org/ Gallery 1 & 2

http://www.salvaimonasteri.org photo Gallery 3

Assyrian Church of the East

History of the Chaldean Church