A Twenty-Minute Walk Through Fallujah: Using Virtual Reality to Raise Awareness about IEDs in Iraq

Authors

Sandra Bialystok, Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian DeminingFollow

Abstract

In January 2018, filmmakers from the studio NowHere Media travelled to Fallujah, Iraq, with the objective of creating a virtual reality (VR) experience to explain how improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are impacting people’s safe return home. In just a few days, they met dozens of people, all of whom had stories to tell. And then they met Ahmaeid—an Iraqi father who had returned home with his family about a year earlier. Ahmaied told them about the tragic accident that had happened just a few months prior when his two older sons entered a neighbor's home to collect wood and set off an IED. Both young men lost their lives in the explosion. Working with a translator from the region and a local crew, and with Ahmaied’s permission, NowHere Media and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) created the immersive VR experience “Home After War” to tell his story.

Recommended Citation

Bialystok, Sandra (2020) "A Twenty-Minute Walk Through Fallujah: Using Virtual Reality to Raise Awareness about IEDs in Iraq," The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction: Vol. 23 : Iss. 3 , Article 3.
Available at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal/vol23/iss3/3