The Witness Room

Colette Ghunim spent nine years making a film about two houses her parents were forced to leave as children — one in Palestine, one in Mexico — and found, somewhere in the middle of it, that the distance she was really trying to close was the one between her and them. In this conversation, she talks about what a camera makes possible that a dinner table doesn't. About grieving a homeland she's nev...

Palestinian peace-activist Sami Awad on the grandfather he lost to a sniper's bullet, the grandmother who refused revenge, and why resistance is a spiritual practice. Sami's book " The Sacred Awakening " on Amazon

In the first episode of The Witness Room, Malek sits with his friend Mehran Seyed Emami. A therapist and the founder of Ravan Nama (a Persian psychedelic society). They talk about what it means to be Iranian right now: the war, the diaspora, the infighting, the exhaustion. They talk about ayahuasca, MDMA, the limits of being right, and the slow work of meeting people where they actually are.

Before the conversations begin, a few words from your host. Malek Asfeer introduces The Witness Room. A series about belonging and the parts of our stories that usually get left out. Pull up a chair.