Rocket Man Retold

2年前の話題なのですが、Elton Johnの名曲Rocket Manのミュージックビデオがなかったのでコンペにかけたところ、難民の経験を描いた作品が選ばれていたそうですね。イラン人のMajid Adinの実体験に着想を得て作られたアニメだそうです。イギリスに入国するときはトラックの下に隠れていたのですが、落ちそうで怖いので冷蔵庫に入ったとか。

The Refugee Who Smuggled Himself Out of Camps and into ‘Rocket Man’

The incredible true story of 31-year-old Majid Adin, an Iranian refugee animator behind a viral music video for one of Elton John's most classic jams.

The world in three dimensions only recently became a kinder place to animator Majid Adin. When he first arrived in London, a little more than a year ago, he had come by way of locking himself into a refrigerator, before spending the next four hours lurching around in the back of a cargo truck. A refugee from Iran who faced persecution for his writings and cartoons criticizing religious conservatism, Adin had smuggled himself to England from a refugee camp in northern France. The first few times, he tried clinging to the truck's underbelly. But the risk of falling onto the asphalt below, zipping by at 60 miles an hour, was too terrifying. The refrigerator, despite its ability to suffocate him, seemed safer. It's an experience that the 31-year-old carries with him in his art. "Even suffering can be beautiful," he tells me with a wry smile.

イギリス入国の苦労は色々あるそうで、前回のエントリーで紹介した本に掲載されていた難民キャンプのシリア人はスーツケースに隠れて入国したそうです。イギリスで難民として暮らし始めているそうで、取材した作者とは久しぶりの再会になったとか。

Reunited: Syrian refugee and the artist who drew him in Calais

At a London exhibition on migrants, Olivier Kugler and Ammar Raad meet for the first time since their 2016 encounter in a shack

Vanessa Thorpe, Arts and Media correspondent

Sat 10 Nov 2018 16.59 GMT

Raad’s own final journey to Britain eventually came after 11 months spent at the Calais encampment. When he travelled to see a friend in Paris, he spotted a bus service to England and hatched the plan to hide himself in the hold. Amazingly, it worked on only the second attempt.

“The first time the bag broke. But the next time I stayed curled up for nine hours. I could breathe because I could open the case a little. Normally no one gets in like that because they have dogs checking every bag. I was just lucky. It was raining and it wasn’t a time when many trains were going through.”

カレーの難民キャンプは悪名高いそうですが、The New York Review of Booksの書評で紹介されていた別のグラフィックノベルの抜粋を以下で読めます。

By Kate Evans  Jun 21 2017, 6:00am

Inside the Notorious Camp Where Refugees Sewed Their Lips Shut

Read an excerpt from 'Threads,' a heartbreaking graphic memoir that takes an intimate look at the refugee crisis.