About Baghdad: Irish Premiere Fri 06 August

by Salah Wed Aug 04, 2004 17:36

with Iraqis bound to deepen discussion on occupation

Never before seen footage, including:
o the insane asylum in Baghdad that was ransacked by a mob after US tanks overran the hospital walls
o the Iraq-Iran War Memorial that has been transformed into a US military base
o the first public commemoration for the people of al-Dijayl – who attempted to assassinate Saddam Hussein in 1982
o a lawyer imprisoned by Oday Saddam Hussein who organized a children’s protest against the occupation
These are some of the many enticing stories in this historic new film about Baghdad.


Washington, DC: Amidst the violence that has already claimed more than 800 Iraqi lives and more than 70 US soldiers in Fallujah alone, a groundbreaking documentary about Iraq will soon be released. “About Baghdad” is a collage based on interviews conducted in Baghdad between July 6th and July 27th 2003, three months into the occupation.

“About Baghdad” documents an exiled Iraqi poet’s return to Baghdad along with a group of other academics and artists to see what has become of this illustrious city after wars, sanctions, decades of oppression and violence. Poet Sinan Antoon takes the viewer on a journey exploring what Iraqis think and feel about the post-war situation and the complex relationship between the US and Iraq

“There are many documentaries about Iraq now,” said Sinan Antoon, “but ‘About Baghdad’ is the only one which opens an avenue to the voices of Iraqi people, rather than just about the US role and political issues such as intelligence, weapons, and Saddam Hussein. This is the first film in which average Iraqis narrate their stories to the viewer.”

Seventy-hours of footage, edited down to a one-hour and forty-minute documentary, revealed quite strongly: the binary view that Iraqis are either pro-Saddam and thus anti-occupation or anti-Saddam and therefore gratefully pro-occupation is false. For example, Laheeb Kishmish Nu’man, a very successful trial lawyer who was arrested, tortured, and harassed by Uday Saddam Hussein, organized a children’s protest against the occupation.

The documentary further includes never-before-seen footage, including the insane asylum in Baghdad that was ransacked by a mob after US tanks overran the hospital walls and the Iraq-Iran War Memorial that has been transformed into a US military base. The documentary includes interviews with poets, cab drivers, medical doctors, feminists, communists, and Islamists, as well as US soldiers. Particularly powerful are the interviews in Al-Sadr City and Al-Dijayl.

Other highlights from the documentary:
Ø Al-Sadr city, previously named ‘Saddam City’ in the 1980s, was always a site of anti-Saddam riots and demonstrations, especially right after the 1991 Gulf War. What was the most often heard commentary in Al-Sadr City? “We have no electricity, no water, no cars. Looting everywhere. We have no gas, no petroleum. So, where is the security he [Bush] brought? Where is the electricity? Where is the security we were promised?” asked one man, supported by a growing crowd. Another man stopped when he saw the camera and emphatically said, “The student has left. The master has come. … And the people are the victim.” Especially telling is the recurring comment of limited patience, as illustrated by one man’s commentary: “We will remain patient as long as we can, but when we run out of patience, then….”

Ø In July of 1982, a group of men from the predominantly Shiite town of al-Dijayl attempted to assassinate Saddam Hussein. The attempt failed; hundreds of the town's men were executed and disappeared and hundreds more were put in prison with their families to be tortured. The orchards in which the assassins were hiding were uprooted, their houses were destroyed and a highway was constructed over the site of the destroyed houses and uprooted palm and orange trees. In July of 2003, the people of al-Dijayl held the first public commemoration for the victims. In addition to the footage of this first-ever public commemoration, the documentary also includes interviews with the survivors. What are their feelings now? Their aspirations? And what is their stance with regards to this latest war and occupation?

Ø A Baghdadi hotel manager said, “The people are still helpless, because Saddam destroyed everything, he even crushed their soul. … I don’t at all believe in the presence of the Americans. It is harmful to Iraq and to neighboring countries. … The future will show this was a crime against the entire Middle East, and the one who made this all possible is Saddam.”

Ø A poet at a Baghdadi café said, “The pressure we have endured for 35 years made us lose our balance. We are human beings, our nerves have been wrecked, this can only lead to some sort of schizophrenia. What can we do? We have been knocked off balance by the constant pressure we’ve been under. It is understandable that we would cling to any ray of hope, no matter how slim, even if it is from our enemy, or from the devil himself. What we want is something that guarantees our stability and balance.


When asked about the theme, the ‘take-home’ message of the documentary, Antoon said: “We believe that to begin to grasp the complexity of the Iraqi dilemma, we must escape the deceptively simple binaries of good vs. evil, US vs. Saddam. . . etc, that are used to frame our understanding. We pose questions within the context of a complicated history of dictatorship, sanctions, wars, and now, occupation. The violence and death visited on Iraqis was, and still is, an international legacy and responsibility.”

“Only by accessing Iraqi perspectives can we hope to make sense of what is happening, and what might emerge in Iraq,” commented Adam Shapiro, researcher and member of the InCounter Productions collective.

Maya Mikdashi, a camera-woman and member of the InCounter Productions collective, said, “The structure of this documentary is intentionally reflective of its content; the disquieting chaos and violent disorder that had engulfed the lives of Iraqis and fractured their spaces and psyches.”

“In these bad times when Western television networks, with few exceptions, have become an instrument of imperial propaganda, independent documentary films are needed more than ever before,” said historian and novelist Tariq Ali. “This affecting film, shot in occupation Baghdad, privileges the people of Iraq and they have a great deal to say about both Saddam Hussein's rule and the US occupation. These are courageous voices rarely heard on Western television. Listen to them carefully. These are the people on whom Iraq depends for its future.”

‘About Baghdad’ discusses the weight and legacy of dictatorship, wars and sanctions, together with US complicity, responsibility and direct and indirect intervention in the lives of Iraqis in the last three decades. The fears and hopes of average Iraqis, long silenced, at a unique moment in time, are the mainstay of this film. This is a window on Iraqis of various backgrounds. From cabbies to communists, poets to politicians, they reflect on a tumultuous history and an uncertain tomorrow, reflecting their diversity and humanity.

‘About Baghdad’ will be released in May 2004. The documentary has already been shown at the San Diego International Film Festival.

ABOUT BAGHDAD is produced by INCOUNTER PRODUCTIONS, a collective of independent artists, activists and academics. The artists of About Baghdad hope to develop a successful documentary about Iraqis, and thus begin to get Iraqi voices into the consciousness of Western audiences. For more information, go to:

by Siofra - IAWM Wed Aug 04, 2004 14:58 info at irishantiwar dot org above above

From articles I've read on the web, Rania Masri seems to be a formidable activist who has been stuck into numerous campaigns and social justice movements down thorouth the years including:
Campaign to Stop the War Profiteers, Iraq Action Coalition, United for Peace & Justice, Peace Action.

Check link below for more info

http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/hero02292004/