Wnyt
Jad Jacob says he's a storyteller at heart and more than just a filmmaker.
“My purpose in life, I would say, is to tell stories to people,” he said.
For him, one story is especially personal. The Niskayuna High School senior is a first generation Syrian American.
“I think I see it as a responsibility to tell this story,” Jacob said.
The story is the consequences of the war in Syria for the past six years. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed. Millions more left their homeland to find a safer place to live. His story is about those people, some of whom he knows personally.
“When I visit my cousin and my uncles, I know that they're refugees,” Jacob said. “They came from the war. Their house was bombed.”
He says that gave him a unique perspective and the drive to travel to Germany last August. With the help of his father and his father's childhood friend, he filmed a documentary called I Am Syria. In it, he relays real stories of survival and hope from a war torn country.
“I think when they're telling these stories, they can't put themselves in it again,” Jacob said. “They can't relive this in their heads. It's traumatic.”
Jacob says talking to those families and children was a humbling experience. He also spoke to refugees in the United States for the film.
Jacob says the politics are the same in Germany and the United States. But he adds refugees in the U.S. seem to have more hope because Americans are more accepting, even though it doesn't seem that way.
“Anyone coming to America, there's the sense of [it being] the land of opportunity. This is where not only can we rebuild our lives, [but] we can build it in a way where we can stay in America.”
Jacob hopes viewers will see the human perspective to a crisis that's created so much controversy.
The film was screened at Proctors on Saturday.