Two sold out screenings of Meet the Barbarians at city hall charmed the audience

The Q-and-A panel following the screening of the film Meet the Barbarians. From left to right, Kathy Vassilakos, Felicity Sutcliffe, Saja Alta’eh and Megan Smith-Harris. This well-received comedy had the audience in laughter despite the seriousness of sponsorship.

The 2024 Julie Delpy film Meet the Barbarians premiered last year at TIFF and was generously sponsored at the Stratford Film Festival (SFF) by Kathy Vassilakos and Dan Mathieson, CJCS and Today FM, Destination Stratford and an anonymous donor. The sponsorship was in recognition of the similarities to this community that ten years ago embarked on its own mission to sponsor refugees.

The film centres on a small town intending to welcome a Ukrainian family to sponsor but instead are faced with Syrian refugees. The satirical comedy explores serious themes with a blend of humour that had the audience laughing.

“It was my favourite film last year at TIFF and I knew immediately that I wanted to program it for Stratford. One of the reasons that I thought it would be a good fit here is that this community set out to welcome five families through Stratford Welcomes Refugees and made that a community effort,” explained Megan Smith-Harris, executive director of SFF.

The townsfolk are forced to look inward as they face their own prejudices once confronted with Syrian refugees among them. Dissent descends upon them thanks to the local plumber who was perfectly cast with his underlying seething whenever the Syrians are around.

This is a story of resilience and perseverance, by both the refugee family and the townsfolk who must learn to overcome their fears and prejudices so that overtime, they can learn to live together and thrive.

The theme of resilience was further explored after the screening with a Q-and-A featuring a panel of Kathy Vassilakos, Felicity Sutcliffe, Saja Alta’eh and moderated by Smith-Harris. To begin the discussion, Alta’eh shared her story about what her life in Syria was like and what happened to her family and how they have persevered.

Back home, her life was simple; her grandparents were farmers with crops and animals. Her parents were farmers too, but on a much smaller scale with only one animal. The day surrounded school in the morning, studying in the afternoon and then playing with her cousins.

“The year before we left Syria, something unusual happened. It snowed. Heavy snow that reached our knees. For me it felt like a sign, almost as if our destiny was pointing us toward Canada. Then the conflict began, gunshots echoed all around us. My mom, siblings and I would flee to safer cities, then return until the time I started Grade 3 where we left and never went back,” shared Alta’eh.

They stayed with her grandparents while her father worked in Lebanon. Bullets would fly overhead and her mother was nearly hit. Then, a plane dropped a bomb.

“My uncle shouted, ‘Get down!’ My heart dropped. My throat went completely dry from fear and I could feel every beat pounding in my chest. The explosion shook the ground beneath us. For a moment it felt like the world had stopped,” said Alta’eh.

That fear stayed with them for months as they continued to run, until her parents decided they would flee to Lebanon. After three years, they were invited to move to Stratford. They didn’t know where it was or what life would be like. Classmates in Lebanon would tell stories of kids being taken from their families and try to scare her. But deep down they knew that this was the safest and best option.

“Stratford turned out to be smaller and quieter than we expected, but comforting and could be our second home. From the very beginning there was a group of people that stood by our side, ‘SALT.’ They respected our culture, celebrated with us and even shared our food,” she said.

The group helped support them with everything from school to banking to getting a driver’s licence, appointments at hospitals and even helped bring her uncle and family here as well.

“Starting over is not just reaching safety, it’s about leaving everything behind. Your home, your school, your friends, the life you once lived. You carry only memories, while everything familiar is gone. Rebuilding takes time and patience and support of those around you. In Stratford everyone has been so kind, even the smallest gesture like walking down the street and someone smiles at you,” said Alta’eh.

Kathy Vassilakos reflected on the beginnings of the Stratford Welcomes Refugees campaign and how quickly the city came together to brainstorm and fundraise. Vassilakos was also a member of council and part of the team along with Sutcliffe who was instrumental in the many thousands of dollars raised needed to sponsor a family. In an interview with the Times, she looked back on those days.

“It’s kind of interesting to be reflecting back a decade later, on what we did and what we accomplished. In the end, there were seven families sponsored. The original plan was to fundraise and sponsor five, but we did enough and raised enough for seven,” said Vassilakos. This represents about 30 souls. “There’s lots to be proud of in this community. It was quite incredible. Within weeks we raised the money required to do the sponsorship.”

The greatest sign of success for Stratford Welcomes Refugees is families like Alta’eh’s and most of the others sponsored have stayed in Stratford and continue to lead their lives in safety and thrive.