Transit and turmoil

Executive sat down with Elyas Salameh to discuss his documentary “Transit” and the situation of Iraqi Christian refugees in Lebanon.   With “Transit,” what were you asking yourself that convinced you to make the documentary? I focused on Iraqi Christians because [they] still have their own identity and if they flee Iraq it will disappear. It’s not only a Christian identity; if they leave Iraq Christianity will remain one of the biggest religions in the world, but Mesopotamian identity and linguistic identity will disappear. Yes, I am a Christian, but to be honest it’s obvious that the Christians of Iraq are facing ethnic cleansing. I don’t want to be — as a human being — a witness to a culture going extinct. For that reason I decided to make this film.   Do the Iraqi Christian refugees face the same problems as other refugees, even with a sizeable Lebanese Christian