Outlook Mixtape: DNA shock, video diaries, ruby slippers

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Matt Katz is an award-winning investigative journalist based in the US, but when he started looking into his own family history, he faced his most challenging assignment yet. It all started when he took a DNA test to find out more about where his ancestors had hailed from. He knew they were Ashkenazi Jews who'd emigrated to America from Eastern Europe. But when his results came in, they begged a lot of awkward questions. In 2014, nine-year-old Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad and her family were kidnapped from Sinjar in northern Iraq by Islamic State militants. Mediha was rescued from IS three years later and reunited with two of her younger brothers. Just a teenager, she became their main caregiver. She also found solace for her own healing in an unexpected place when a filmmaker, Hasan Oswald, gave her a video camera. The camera became her 'best friend', allowing her to tell her story with complete control. Her video diaries are the basis of a documentary film called Mediha. And the latest twist in the tale of the most famous shoes in film history, a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. Once stolen and eventually recovered after a massive FBI operation, they have recently been sold for $28 million. This interview was first broadcast in 2023. Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: Julian Siddle Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707 (Photo: Cassette tape. Credit: Getty Images)