The food was fantastic, as expected. After all, the recipes came from Open Art co-founder Itab Azzam’s book, Our Syria (US title), that she co-wrote with our friend Dina Mousawi. The screening of We Are Not Princesses, began soon after everyone had had a taste of the delicious fare.

The film received a warm reception from the audience that included refugees, some of which now work with Sanctuary Kitchen. Sanctuary Kitchen partners with immigrant and refugee chefs to build economic opportunity and authentic connections through food. Their vision is to enhance the culinary skills of refugees and immigrants in a supportive environment that honours story and diverse cultural traditions, fosters community and understanding, offers professional development, and generates economic success.

Following the film, there was a talk-back moderated by Elise Morrison, PhD, Assistant Professor Yale Theater Studies; with film director Bridgette Auger; Ann O’Brien from IRIS - Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services; and Syrian Sanctuary Kitchen chef Abir. It was a lovely discussion with Abir shedding further light on the kinds of experiences that Syrians have been going through over the last few years.

Thank you to CitySeed and everyone else for a wonderful event. Allison Hadley has written an article for newhavenarts.org about the event: https://www.newhavenarts.org/arts-paper/articles/sanctuary-kitchen-serves-up-storytelling