Synopsis
Hair Lock is a documentary that features Nathalie Kardjian, an artist, presenting the contrast between normal everyday life before the conflict in Syria and a new reality where friends and family are scattered across different parts of the globe, relationships, and identities are challenged, and new priorities need to be formed.
Prior to the war, life for Nathalie and her closest friends from across Syria, the first group of students at Aleppo University’s new Fine Arts program, revolves around personal development and the potential of a creative career. As the conflict in the country begins to grow, their lives and needs begin to shift, taking them on an unexpected path away from home and each other. It’s clear to Nathalie that history repeats itself—her grandfather already endured such an experience 100 years ago when fleeing the Armenian genocide to settle in Syria.
In 2015, Nathalie faces the culture shock of leaving Syria during the war and encounters the stark contrast of life in Silicon Valley. Growing scrutiny for Syrians like herself by many of the world’s governments leave the fates of her and her friends and family increasingly unclear. Separated indefinitely,
and attempting to define herself in a new world, Nathalie experiences a reactionary shift. In an act of symbolic defiance, she cuts off part of her hair, which then travels and enters places she and others cannot go themselves. Nathalie’s lock of hair and the conversations it instigates with her people allow her to reinforce their bonds, uncover their unique struggles and challenges, and understand how their lives have changed. Along the way, Nathalie becomes more aware of how these experiences and her own family history are bigger than a specific war, how these human challenges are not bound to the context of specific nationalities or people, and how societies across the globe misunderstand outsiders. Hair Lock documents the journey of Nathalie’s hair, which travels to her friends and family members, each sharing their individual and unique stories and journeys relating to displacement.
By weaving these stories together, Hair Lock aims not just to show true faces of people behind words like refugee and migrant, but the kind of resilience and strength that inspires us to adapt to unpredictability, open our minds, and see people as people.
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