Karim Ben Khelifa

Karim Ben Khelifa is a photojournalist and war correspondent. He has covered many conflicts around the world, always with the same principles in mind: to tell both sides of the story, cross dividing lines, and talk to fighters from both camps. That’s because even “enemies” have at least one thing in common: their humanity. Experience taught Ben Khelifa a simple but revolutionary concept: “The enemy is always invisible. When he becomes visible, he ceases to be the enemy.” That is precisely what he wants to share with us. And to do so, he taps into the new possibilities that virtual reality brings to photojournalism. He created The Enemy, a brand new kind of documentary that some of you may have seen at the Arab World Institute in Paris last year. Thanks to VR, Ben Khelifa literally introduces us to fighters from three major conflicts. They look us in the eyes, and tell us about their enemies and about themselves. It’s a breathtaking immersive experience, through which Ben Khelifa makes us understand that there’s always a story that’s more important than the war itself: that of the people who are caught in it.