Iraki

‘For three days after the Bataclan, I thought I was dead,” says Ismaël el Iraki, whose debut feature, Zanka Contact, about two lost souls recovering from PTSD, is playing at the Venice film festival.

Ismael El Iraki, a Moroccan filmmaker who has been living in Paris for 15 years and escaped the Bataclan during the attacks, said the lyrics did not need to be changed.

Ismael El Iraki, an avowed Eagles of Death Metal fan, penned an open letter Tuesday to say his “heart is bleeding.”

Of the riot victims, Iraki said: “Some things we will have to leave behind. In this life, how far can you go by clinging to the past?”

Near them, we are told, and towards the Iraki corner, is the tomb of Hagar, under a green slab one span and a half broad, and pilgrims used to pray at both places.