Underplayed Gems

About Baghdad (2004)

About Baghdad poster
Directed by
Sinan Antoon, Adam Shapiro
Genre
documentary film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 30m
Rating
9.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A documentary filmed in Baghdad three months after Saddam Hussein's fall. The filmmaker returns to the city and records ordinary Iraqis talking about life under the former regime and the American invasion and occupation.

observationalintimateground-levelsoberthoughtfulunvarnishedconversationalinformative

What happens

About Baghdad is a documentary film shot in Baghdad, Iraq in July 2003, 3 months after the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime. Additionally, It is the first documentary film to have been made in Iraq following the fall of the Baath regime. The film features the artist Sinan Antoon as he returns to his native Baghdad, after leaving Iraq in 1991. It privileges the voices of native Iraqis from all walks of life, as they present their views on life during the regime of Saddam Hussein as well as the United States's bombing, invasion, and occupation. Thus, the aim of the documentary is to provide insight in the complexity of the Iraqi's perspectives and to move beyond the marginalization and misrepresentations of the Iraqi's voices by mainstream media. The film was directed by a collective including Sinan Antoon, Bassam Haddad, Maya Mikdashi, Suzy Salamy, Rania Masri and Adam Shapiro. It was produced by Quilting Point Productions (formerly known as InCounter Productions), Arab Studies Institute. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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