We've finally got a start on the new Iraq Eye Group channel on YouTube soon to be the premiere destination for Iraqi made news, short documentaries and socially consious interview series. The Iraq Eye directors have been working hard for the past six months creating a roster of content - everything from video diaries to investigative reports to feature documentaries. We're working through getting it all translated and online, so please check back as we'll be updating the channel every week. Each week's new update will be featured here as well, on the soon to be launched Iraq Eye Blog.
There are a few updates to the Iraq Eye story - the biggest news is the announcement that the Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute has awarded a significant grant to the Iraq Eye Group.
press release >
After the capture of Saddam, DAFFAR'S search for the truth takes him through all walks of life in Iraq, into the arts and culture of Baghdad, drawing the viewer into powerful encounters with Iraqi painters, writers and filmmakers. As the film continues, the interviews veer towards the politics of occupation and resistance, concluding with the battle over Falluja and the devastating death of one of the crew members. In somber self interviews made following the production, the filmmakers reveal the dramatic changes in their beliefs caused not only by the situation in Iraq, but also by the process of documenting it.
"Through the eyes of Iraqis, in "The Dreams of Sparrows," we can finally divine what emerges from the war's digestive tract...From Baghdad's necropolis of slums and nightmarish refugee camps we travel with Daffar to its middle-class apartments, artists' hangouts, mosques and the headquarters of the Communist Party. This is a city of armed men and of stylish women nervously chain-smoking in their apartments; a city where children studying in a private school hold up crayon drawings and say, "Here the tank is aiming at the helicopter, and they exchange shells and rockets." - Tom Bissell, The New York Times Magazine (link)
Hayder Daffar on MTV
Suchin Pak from MTV News interviewed American producer Aaron Raskin and Iraqi filmmaker Hayder Daffar during his two month publicity tour of the US.
link >
Hayder Daffar and Aaron Raskin on CNN Insight
Jonathon Mann from CNN's Insight and Kianne Sadeq from CNN's Baghdad Bureau put together a great 14 minute piece on The Dreams of Sparrows.
Hayder's Interview link and Raskin's Interview link
