Northwest Film Forum

Soon after the fall of Baghdad in 2003, a young and charismatic film student, Muthana Mohmed, stood in the rubble of the city’s film school and explained to an American television audience that his dream of becoming a film maker had been destroyed - first by Saddam Hussein, then by American bombs. This brief, fortuitous appearance on MTV changed Muthana’s life forever. Watching in the United States, actor/director Liev Schreiber stopped channel surfing, utterly captivated. Feeling guilty about a war he opposed, Schreiber decided to extend to the unknown Iraqi the opportunity of a lifetime - to come to Prague to work on an American movie, EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED. But getting coffee and making copies is not Mohmed’s idea of learning how to direct. And that's only the beginning of the culture clash. With his home in flames, Mohmed has nowhere to go. But how long can Schreiber and his team support a young man who they will eventually have to leave?

Filmmaker Nina Davenport becomes increasingly entangled in this situation and the young Iraqi’s life as his visa is about to expire and the threat of returning to Baghdad looms. OPERATION FILMMAKER, revealing on several levels, addresses the power dynamics between the American filmmaker and her Iraqi subject, unfolding as an engaging parable about the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
 

Panel discussion

Northwest Film Forum will be hosting a panel discussion following the Saturday 4:30 matinee screening with several Seattle-based documentary filmmakers.  What is the relationship of the filmmaker to the individuals and communities they portray?  What is their responsibility in what is so often an unequal relationship?  Please join us and the guests below for this special event!

BRYAN GUNNAR COLE
Bryan Gunnar Cole is a director, producer and union picture editor. As a director, his documentary credits include the award-winning Nation Geographic special "Search for the First Dog", and the feature documentary "Boomtown", which premiered nationally on the PBS showcase POV. Recently, he directed and edited the feature "Day Zero" starring Elijah Wood, Chris Klein and Jon Bernthal, which premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. He has edited award winning feature documentary films like Danae Elon's "Another Road Home" (Sundance), Andrew Walton's "Arctic Son" (PBS/P.O.V.), and Phil Bertelsen's "The Sunshine "(IFC), in addition to respected television series like A&E's "The First 48" and the PBS series "Texas Ranch House" among many others.

JOHN JEFFCOAT
John Jeffcoat is the founder of Strangelife Productions; a Seattle based production company. Since graduating from Denison University in 1994, John Jeffcoat has worked in the film industry as a writer, director, producer, cinematographer, and editor.  After years of working on commercials and industrials, Jeffcoat co-wrote 'Outsourced' with George Wing (50 First Dates), loosely based on Jeffcoat's travels in Nepal and India.  Jeffcoat went on to direct 'Outsourced' winning numerous awards including the 2007 Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film at the Seattle Int'l Film Festival, the John Schlesinger Award for Outstanding First Feature at the Palm Springs Int'l Film Festival as well as critical praise from the New York Times, Variety, Roger Ebert and a host of others.

JOHN SINNO
John Sinno was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, where he acquired a BA in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut. He moved to the United States in 1984, continuing his graduate education in Southern California. There he obtained an MA in Communication Theory as well as an MFA in Film Production, winning the 1989 Arkoff Award for his film, "Killing a Deer."  In 1990, Sinno founded and operated Video Press, an Orange County-based video production company which he operated until he moved to Seattle in 1993.

He joined Arab Film Distribution in Seattle, becoming president of the company in 1998.  Since its inception, AFD has acquired hundreds of feature and documentary films for distribution, offering North American audiences unprecedented access to films from and about the Arab world.  AFD has also brought of a number of critically acclaimed films to North American movie screens, such as "Rana's Wedding," "Ali Zaoua" and "Gaza Strip." In 2005 Sinno founded Typecast Films, which released the controversial Italian drama "Private" to US cinemas. Most recently, Typecast Films produced the documentary film "Iraq in Fragments," which won three top prizes at Sundance and earned him a nomination in 2007 for an Academy Award.  Sinno also serves as producer and curator for the biennial Seattle Arab and Iranian Film festival. He is currently finishing his first narrative feature production for Typecast Films, ZMD.