TVREAL
10 Years of Darkness: ISIS & The Yazidis is slated to premiere on Sky News on May 2.
In the 60-minute documentary, special correspondent Alex Crawford chronicles the systematic slaughter of the Yazidi people in Sinjar in 2014, the mass abductions of women and children and the ensuing humanitarian crisis that still reverberates today, with many Yazidi women still enslaved ten years later.
Interwoven with the broader narrative is the story of Kovan, a young Yazidi from northern Iraq whose life was overturned when she was abducted by ISIS militants at the age of 14.
The documentary features original, on-the-ground eye-witness footage of rescue operations in detention camps and moving family reunions. Crawford brings into sharp focus the Yazidi community’s relentless search for the missing and their ongoing fight for justice.
Others featured in the documentary include Farida Khalaf, a Yazidi author and human rights activist whose village, Kocho in northern Iraq, was attacked by ISIS. Her memoir, The Girl Who Beat ISIS, recounts her experiences and has been published in over 14 countries. She has become an international advocate, meeting with world leaders and testifying on issues of justice and human rights.
Additional contributors include Dr. Shiraz Maher, director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalistaion, and Dr. Jan Kizilhan, a German-Kurdish trauma expert and professor specializing in the treatment of survivors of war and genocide, who has worked extensively with Yazidi women and children subjected to atrocities by ISIS.
10 Years of Darkness: ISIS & The Yazidis is produced in conjunction with Sky News Films. It will debut on Sky News platforms on May 2.
“I have reported on the horrors faced by the Yazidis for over a decade, telling the harrowing stories of the women and children taken as slaves, raped by ISIS,” Crawford said. “The alarming truth—which we explore in this film—is that thousands of them are still being held captive and this brutality continues.”
David Rhodes, executive chairman of Sky News, added, “This film has been made possible by our continued investment in on-the-ground reporting that delivers deep analysis and insight from around the world. Alex’s eyewitness accounts over an extensive period show audiences the full story, explaining the context and history and detailing new, horrifying revelations that viewers wouldn’t otherwise know about.”
