Thread by @AzmatZahra

1. Remember this photo by Chris Hondros?

Samar Hassan, 5, moments after her parents were killed by US soldiers in Tel Afar, Iraq in 2005.

2. I watched @HONDROSfilm at #HIFF25 last night, seemingly about the late war photographer, but also much more: accountability in war.

3. Continuously, the film returned to the people whose faces were made famous by Chris' photos, a young soldier in Liberia, a family in Iraq

4. One scene was among the most arresting of any film I've watched in years. It featured Samar, the girl in the photo, who's now 18.

5. Filmmaker Greg Campbell spent time w/ a soldier who'd shot at Samar's parents. He was broken & wanted to tell her family how sorry he was

6. Greg went back to Iraq to find Samar. Her photo was iconic of the war, a reality Americans rarely saw. But she learned of it in 2011.

7. Greg found her, and told her about the soldier who wanted to tell her sorry. Here's how she responded:

8. "No one ever told me they were sorry. Sorry won't bring back my parents. I'll never forgive them."

9. "If they were in front of me, I would want to drink their blood—and still I would not feel satisfied."

10. Samar described how she thinks of the day her parents were killed every day, and how it dramatically shaped the course of her life.

11. It's just one of many powerful scenes that will leave you mulling war & accountability for a while to come.
chrishondrosfilm.com