In December 2001, a Yemeni citizen named Moath al-Alwi was captured by Pakistani forces near the country’s border with Afghanistan, turned over to the US government and detained at the infamous Guantánamo Bay detention camp at the southeastern tip of Cuba. Al-Alwi was originally thought to have been one of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards. However, in 2021, US officials wrote that al-Alwi lacked any ‘leadership position in Al-Qaeda or the Taliban’ and, acknowledging that he didn’t represent a threat to US security and had participated in rehabilitation programmes, approved his transfer from the prison. Yet, as of this writing, al-Alwi remains at Guantánamo Bay, with no release date in sight, despite never being charged with a crime.
The short documentary A Ship from Guantánamo offers viewers a rare glimpse into al-Alwi’s life at Guantánamo Bay, where he’s been able to find a small escape in creating intricate model ships built from found objects like dental floss, prayer beads and cardboard. Collaborating on the film with al-Alwi despite not being able to meet him, the South African filmmaker Dara Kell and the US filmmaker Veena Rao explore how his artworks have helped him preserve his humanity amid the dehumanising conditions of his imprisonment.
Directors: Dara Kell, Veena Rao
video
Human rights and justice
Surreal, dazzling visuals form an Iranian expat’s tribute to defiance back home
10 minutes
video
Language and linguistics
Do button-pushing dogs have something new to say about language?
9 minutes
video
Art
When East met West in the images of an overlooked, original photographer
9 minutes
video
Values and beliefs
Why a single tree, uprooted in a typhoon, means so much to one man in Hanoi
7 minutes
video
Consciousness and altered states
‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality
7 minutes
video
Making
On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way
6 minutes
video
Animals and humans
One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough
14 minutes
video
Computing and artificial intelligence
A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away
9 minutes
video
History
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
13 minutes