Film: ***ABOUT BAGHDAD***

Special benefit screening for the SF Bay Area Independent Media Center
http://www.indybay.org

***ABOUT BAGHDAD***

Sunday November 21st
7:30 pm
$5-10 donation

@ Station 40
3030b 16th St (& Mission), directly across from 16th & Mission BART station

An independent film by InCounter Productions (Spring 2004)

In July 2003 Sinan Antoon, an exiled Iraqi writer and poet, returned to
Baghdad to see what has become of his city after wars, sanctions, decades
of oppression and violence, and now occupation. Antoon takes us on a
journey exploring what Iraqis think and feel about the post-war situation
and the complex relationship between the US and Iraq.

About Baghdad is a journey into the hearts and minds of the hundreds of
Iraqis we encountered in Baghdad. In the simmering heat of Baghdad’s
summer, Iraqis, of various ethnic and political backgrounds and
orientations, speak of past horrors and present fears.

Reflections on the traumatic legacy of dictatorship, sanctions and war, also
reflect the resilience and humanity of a people who were, for decades,
dehumanized and disappeared behind Saddam’s image. From poets to
politicians, cabbies to communists, a retired senior citizen to an American
soldier at Bremmer’s headquarters, "About Baghdad" navigates the dire, and
often misunderstood and misrepresented, straits separating, yet involving,
both Iraqis and Americans.

Amy Goodman interviews the filmmakers:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/25/1423211

Review from the Daily Star:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ID=10&article_ID=5739&categ_id=4

Festivals:

Official Selection, San Diego International Film Festival (San Diego, CA)
Official Selection, Montreal World Film Festival (Montreal, Canada)
Official Selection, Cinema East Film Series (New York, NY)
Official Selection, RebelFest Film Festival (Toronto)
Official Selection, Festival do Rio 2004 (Rio de Janeiro)
Official Selection, Calgary International Film Festival (Calgary, Canada)
Official Selection, Cinemayaat, The Arab Film Festival (San Francisco, CA)
Official Selection, Northern Lights Documentary Film Festival
(Newburyport,MA)
Official Selection, Mount Shasta International Film Festival (Mount Shasta,
CA)
Official Selection, Vermont International Film Festival (Burlington, VT)
Official Selection, Arabian Sights Film Festival (Washington, DC)
Official Selection, Northampton Independent Film Festival (Northampton, MA)
Official Selection, International Film Festival of Human Rights of Spain
(Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, Girona & Viranoz)
Official Selection, Leeds International Film Festival (Leeds, United
Kingdom)
Official Selection, Middle East Studies Association Film Festival (San
Francisco, CA)
Official Selection, Docudays Film Festival (Beirut, Lebanon)
Official Selection, Detroit Docs Film Festival (Detroit, MI)