Iraq 5 Years of Mission Accomplished
Hello NAAP-NY!,
Please join us Wednesday April 30th, for an evening to commemorate 5 years of the war on Iraq and the ironic anniversary of "Mission Accomplished".
In collaboration with SheshBesh Creative, we will be screening a number of short Independent films from The Baghdad Film School (www.iftvc.org). These are brave, specific, and revelatory documents that expose the raw underbelly of the occupation while maintaining a resilient and very personal spirit of endurance, determination and hope. (see below for film descriptions) .
What:A screening of short films from The Baghdad Film School
When: Wednesday, April 30th @ 7pm
Where: Millennium Film Workshop, 66 East 4th Street New York, New York
Cost: Free! (note, seating is limited, so please come on time!)
This introductory screening kicks off a program of education and awareness regarding the "unknowns" surrounding Iraq, (the stories and angles the mainstream media in America rarely, if ever, cover), including: the social, political and cultural history of Iraq, the relevance of the country and culture in the wider Arab dynamic, and the personal experience of Iraqis in the years leading up to and including the American invasion and occupation. The thrust of this program is to put a "face" on the Iraq War, hence the project title "Wijh Iraq".
Please help spread the word and we hope to see you Wednesday.
Thank you,
The Network of Arab American Professionals of NY www.naaponline.org/ny | naap-ny@naaponline.org | 212.592.4052
The Films
Baghdad Days (35 mins) (directed by Hiba Bassem, 2005). Hiba Bassem, a young woman from Kirkuk, returns to Baghdad after the war, to finish her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. The film is a diary of her year as she tries to find a place to live, looks for work, graduates from college, deals with family problems and struggles to come to terms with her position as a woman on her own.
This film won a New Horizon silver award at the Al Jazeera International Film Festival in Doha (2006) and a golden award at the Rotterdam Arab Film Festival (2006).
A Candle For The Shabandar Cafe (25 mins) (directed by Emad Ali, 2007). Founded in 1917, the Shabandar Cafe in Al Mutanabbi Street in the heart of the old centre of Baghdad, was a cultural landmark, where generations of Iraqis came to discuss and debate literature and politics - a living repository of Iraqi intellectual history and one of the last places where people could gather to exchange ideas. Emad had shot most of his film by the end of 2006, but in March 2007, a massive car bomb destroyed the Shabandar Cafe, all the bookshops on Al Mutanabbi Street and killed and wounded scores of people. Days later, Baghdad's poets and artists held a wake in the ruins of the street they loved so much and Emad took a small camera and went back to film. As he was leaving he was attacked, his camera stolen and he was shot in the legs and chest, and his own story is an epilogue to his film about the Shabandar Cafe and Mutanabbi Street - before and after they were destroyed.
Dr Nabil (15 mins) (directed by Ahmed Jabbar, 2007) A gentle and committed surgeon, with literary talents, works at a small understaffed Baghdad hospital, which suffers from lack of equipment and medicines. While many other doctors have been killed or have fled the country in fear of their lives, Dr Nabil has decided to stay. He worries, though, about the effect that the atmosphere of violence and brutality is having on his young son.