A 21-year-old Syrian cameraman who worked on the Oscar-winning film “The White Helmets” was not able to attend Sunday’s awards show.
Khaled Khatib is credited with cinematography on “The White Helmets,” a 40-minute Netflix documentary that chronicles Syria’s ongoing civil war and the volunteer team of first responders saving thousands of civilian lives. The film won Best Documentary Short at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony in California on Sunday night.
The white helmets documentary produced by @netflix was nominated for oscar!! I’m so proud to have filmed this film and for this nomination. pic.twitter.com/Lk3AL4fsEi
— Khaled Khatib (@995Khaled) January 24, 2017
The Syria Civil Defense, the official name of the White Helmets organization, released a statement on Saturday saying Khatib could no longer attend the star-studded event.
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“Unfortunately Khaled Khatib was not able to travel to the Oscars due to his passport being cancelled by the Syrian regime, despite having been issued a U.S. visa specifically to attend the awards ceremony,” the statement said.
The statement said Raed Saleh, head of the Syria Civil Defense who was also due to attend, must skip the Oscars as well.
“The intense air strikes across the country mean he must focus on work inside Syria,” the statement added.
Earlier Saturday, Khatib posted on Twitter that he was barred from traveling from Syria to the United States after spending three days at the airport. Khatib tweeted that he had a U.S. visa but his passport was not accepted.
I get US visa but I haven’t traveled to U.S At all and I won’t travel to OSCAR due to intensity of work, our priority is helping our people.
— Khaled Khatib (@995Khaled) February 25, 2017
After 3days at airport, not allowed to travel to #oscars2017 – had US visa – but passport not accepted. Sad, but important work to do here.
— Khaled Khatib (@995Khaled) February 25, 2017
SYRIA CIVIL DEFENCE STATEMENT ON OSCARS | Saturday 25th February 2017#Oscar2017 pic.twitter.com/WJmMzMtVGv
— Raed Al Saleh (@RaedAlSaleh3) February 26, 2017
The Associated Press, citing “internal Trump administration correspondence,” reported on Saturday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security decided last minute to block Khatib from traveling to Los Angeles for the Oscars after officials said they found “derogatory information” regarding the Syrian cinematographer.
Turkish authorities detained Khatib this week and he needed a passport waiver from the United States to enter the country, according to the internal U.S. government correspondence seen by The Associated Press.
The correspondence indicated Khatib would not receive this waiver. There was no explanation in the correspondence for why he was detained in Turkey, The Associated Press reported.
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When asked for a comment, Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Gillian Christensen, told The Associated Press: ”A valid travel document is required for travel to the United States.”
(H/T: AP)
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