#crowdfunding - Another Day in Baghdad (Kulshi Makoo)
Amidst the threat of unpredictable violence, a community of ordinary people try to live their everyday lives.
Interview with Director Maysoon Pachachi
Congratulations! Why are you making your film?
My co-writer (Irada Al Jabbouri) & I wanted to give voice to the many ordinary Iraqis who had lived through the crisis of sectarian violence that shook the country from 2006-2007. We wanted to bring emotional complexity to characters that are often only portrayed in the media as ‘victims’. It’s our wish that people empathize with the Iraqi experience from a more equal standing, rather than from a distanced position; to better identify with what it might be like to be in a situation of conflict or war themselves.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I would say that potential audiences should come see this film to get immersed in a particular place and time, to understand what life was like for a certain set of “ordinary” people living in an extraordinary situation (violence, curfew, lack of resources…); to understand better a narrative that continues to have repercussions in the Middle East and the rest of the world more than a decade after it all happened. Also, I think it can be intriguing to ask oneself what kinds of decision-making one might undertake in a similar situation, when under great duress. It’s not always what one might expect. Life is less neat than fiction!
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Previously, my co-writer and I worked on a book & film in 2006/7 called “Open Shutters Iraq” – in which a group of women from 5 Iraqi cities learned photography in order to tell stories of their lives in pictures. By the end of that project, Irada & I discovered something that was true of ourselves: that creativity in certain circumstances is an act of resistance, a way of building resilience. In our new film, the main character has to realize the potential of this within her own situation and for those around her too.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
What began for us as recollections of real events and conversations (sometimes recorded verbatim) gradually developed into something more hybrid and fictional over time. Then, at a certain point, the fictional elements took the reigns and began guiding us as to where the narrative should go. There were also many creative discussions with producers and script consultants that helped shed light on aspects of the script that were either too ambiguous or subtle. It’s been a constant evolution and sometimes, just when we felt we’d ‘nailed it’, something new and often intriguing would come up to make us question if there needed to be further story development in one direction or another, or to develop a character in a new way etc.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I’ve been fortunate to workshop the script with a number of actors – in London, Stockholm, Amman, Kuwait and Baghdad and it’s their feedback that is often the most rewarding for me. Actors yearn for material that feels to them authentic emotionally; something that is strongly rooted in their culture and their language too.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Sometimes you have an idea in your head that you write down in script form but then - when others read it - it doesn’t always translate fully. So I’ve occasionally had to re-think how to describe or present a scene - or how to re-write a bit of dialogue - in order that the intention behind it becomes more evident to the reader. Such feedback is generally useful and allows one to understand how an audience member might react to the material too.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
First of all, it’s a new platform that we’re excited to discover and also one which seems to be pro-actively searching out new talents and new stories. So we’re very happy to contribute and take part of course. It’s always encouraging to be in the company of people who appreciate how stories are told on film and I hope the chance to be able to talk about the film here will open up possibilities for new audiences.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We have some very good funders already involved in the film: CNC in France, Visions Sud Est in Switzerland and the Arab Fund for Arts Culture in the Middle East. However, financing is always an issue and we are still keen for potential distributors to join the project and support it financially too. We’re currently in discussions with British Film Institute, who supported the development of the script in its most recent iteration, a version we’re very happy with.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I hope it resonates with people not just in Iraq, which is the audience I most hope will get something from it, but anywhere there is a need to honor those who have had to face an unbearable reality that is not of their own making. I’ve never really made films for fame or fortune (certainly not fortune!) so it’s really about getting to the heart of something – and to reveal how, in war time, even if you’re living your own story, it ultimately becomes a collective one too. You are part of something larger during wartime and, for better or worse, this is what becomes etched into the day-to-day reality of your life.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Why hasn't the entire film been shot in Iraq? This is a sensitive question on so many levels and, in the end, something that came down to many different factors, not all of them within my control as a filmmaker.
Would you like to add anything else?
If you want to get an authentic picture about life in another place, don’t necessarily count on Hollywood to provide you that. Several such films about Iraq have been made over the last years but these are not really true to life there.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Our Iraqi production designer, Raya Asee, is absolutely brilliant and working not only in art direction / design but also in the media in Iraq. She’s a social activist as much as a creative I would say. My Baghdad-based co-writer Irada tends to be active on many fronts as well, she does a lot of teaching at university and has been involved in various initiatives related to journalism. My Kuwaiti producer, Talal Al-Muhanna, works with a number of Arab filmmakers on both documentary and fiction projects and he’s very much keyed into the creative aspects in terms of storytelling, narrative approach and – since he was a performer himself – the experience of the actors too.
Interview: November 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Another Day in Baghdad (Kulshi Makoo is the Arabic title)
Amidst the threat of unpredictable violence, a community of ordinary people try to live their everyday lives.
Length: 100 mins
Director: Maysoon Pachachi
Producer: Talal Al-Muhanna
Writer: Irada Al Jabbouri & Maysoon Pachachi
About the writer, director and producer:
Maysoon Pachachi, director & co-writer, is a London-based filmmaker of Iraqi origin. She studied Philosophy at University College London and filmmaking at London Film School. She has made 9 long documentaries.
Irada Al Jabbouri, co-writer, has published 5 collections of short stories, a novel and a book for children and is a lecturer in the Media College of Baghdad University.
Talal Al-Muhanna - formerly a Producing Fellow at the Center for Asian American Media - has been involved in the production of numerous films set in the Middle East as well as documentaries about arts & culture.
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Buyers, Investors, Distributors, Festival Programmers, Journalists.
Social media handles:
Facebook: facebook.com/anotherdayinbaghdad
Twitter: @AnotherdayinB
Funders: CNC, Eurimages, Visions Sud Est, Sanad, BFI
Indiegogo: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/another-day-in-baghdad-war-hope#/
Made in association with: Oxymoron Films (UK), Les Contes Modernes (France), Linked Productions (Kuwait), Neue Mediopolis (Germany)
Where will the film screen in the next month? The film is currently in production