Baghdad Filmschool - How to survive as an independent filmmaker in Iraq

The Happy Hamra

Terwijl op de televisie beelden van een rokende puinhoop en bebloede gezichten draaiden, belde ik naar het Hamra hotel. Tegen beter weten in dacht ik eigenlijk. Maar opeens was daar de stem van de receptionist Salam. ‘We are ok,’ klonk het na een korte stilte even beleefd alsof ik belde om een kamer te boeken. Toen ik doorvroeg over gewonden en de ravage die het hotel moest zijn, kwam er slechts een verhaal over deuren die kapotgeknald waren. Ik drong niet verder aan - Salam was duidelijk in shock.

Buiten liep Luay, als veiligheidsadviseur en chauffeur de steun en toeverlaat van talloze journalisten. ‘Wat kunnen we doen? Waar moeten we heen?’ riep hij wanhopig door zijn mobiele telefoon. Een collega was dood, net als zo’n vijftien buurtbewoners. Zijn verdere tirade richtte zich niet eens op de daders, maar op de regering die met onderling gekrakeel en het buitensluiten van soennieten en groepen uit het machtsapparaat van Saddam de spanningen weer aanjoeg. Volgens hem dachten heel veel inwoners van Bagdad er zo over. Na een paar nutteloze woorden over hoe vreselijk het was, hing ik op. Terwijl ik in winters Amsterdam via telefoontjes en mails probeerde te bevatten wat een dodelijke chaos het vertrouwde wijkje was geworden, kwam ik een foto tegen van de ober uit het restaurant die met een medewerker uit de lobby een lijk versjouwde.

The Happy Hamra doopten de media het sfeerloze hotel van zo’n tien verdiepingen. Na het begin van de oorlog waren er feestjes rond het zwembad en de gebruikelijke sterke verhalen over werken in een oorlog; een paar sportievere collega’s ploegden fanatiek door het glasheldere water. Ik was boos toen ik in de loop van 2005 ook in het Hamra belandde. Dat ik het huis en het kleine hotel waar ik verbleef moest verruilen voor een minibastion voelde als een journalistieke nederlaag. Maar het Hamra werd een thuis. Vanwege de receptionisten die je met ouderwetse plechtstatigheid welkom heetten, al was de puinhoop in de stad nog zo groot. Vanwege de  ober die het eten dat menige hotelgast een omgekeerde maag bezorgde, met zoveel opgewekte swung serveerde. Vanwege de Iraakse collega’s die ondanks alle risico’s met ons bleven werken. Happy was het Hamra trouwens allang niet meer. De tweede lege toren vormde een naargeestige herinnering aan een aanslag in 2005 waarbij medewerkers van het hotel en buurtbewoners het leven lieten. Het zwembad lag er verlaten bij. Het Hamra was een plek waar je dacht aan de mensen die er niet meer waren. De meeste van hen waren Irakezen. Omgekomen bij een bomaanslag, vermoord omdat ze als sjiiet of soenniet in de verkeerde wijk woonden, omdat ze als tolk, vertaler of chauffeur voor de mediavijand werkten, of omdat ze bij een ontvoering geen geld waard waren. Steeds meer journalisten bleven weg. Niet alleen vanwege de risico’s, maar ook omdat Bagdad een te persoonlijk verhaal geworden was, een verhaal dat alleen nog maar over pijn en verlies leek te gaan.

Aangetrokken door berichten dat de veiligheid verbeterde, kwamen de media in 2007 weer terug naar het Hamra. Hun bezoeken waren meestal kort en hun teams kleiner, want Afghanistan was nu immers ‘het verhaal’. ‘Het gaat zo veel beter hier,’straalde Salam toen ik na een afwezigheid van ruim een jaar mijn sleutel weer in ontvangst nam. Ik had mijn twijfels of de relatieve rust wel blijvend was, maar omdat ik hem zijn hoop zo van harte gunde, hield ik mijn mond. Een paar maanden geleden vroeg ik de eigenaar van een winkeltje waar ik regelmatig potten nescafe insloeg of de buurt het niet moeilijk vond, zo’n doelwit met buitenlanders in de wijk. Hij lachte en wees naar een paar meisjes die in de schemering tussen de betonnen muren voorbij kwetterden. ‘Dat kan in andere buurten niet.’ De restanten van zijn winkeltje zag ik ook op een foto. Het was een wonder dat de eigenaar het overleefd had. Schuldbewust realiseerde ik me hoeveel meer aandacht deze bomaanslag kreeg dan alle andere waarbij Irakezen omkwamen, omdat het geweld journalisten deze keer persoonlijk raakte. En ik bedacht me dat de daders dat waarschijnlijk ook maar al te goed beseft hadden.

Meer over Bagdad: Lees het boek van Minka Nijhuis ‘Het huis van Khala’, over een familie in Bagdad.

Bomb attack at the Al Hamra Hotel

Last time when I wrote a posting for this weblog I was still in Baghdad. Now I am back in Amsterdam, where I live and work and where I am now finishing the editing of our film. But this is not what I wanted to write about……Yesterday, I was having a cup of coffee when I got this email from my friend Minka: Bomb attack at the Al Hamra Hotel! 15 People killed! The AL Hamra Hotel??? That is our hotel where we have stayed so many times while in Baghdad. I was completely in shock. The Al Hamra Hotel was almost like a home for us, a safe haven in Baghdad. (But then again, a safe haven in Bagdad is a contradictio interminis.) The staff of the hotel were like friends to us. Every time when we arrived there after a long flight from Amsterdam, we were greeted with enthousiasm: “Ah my friends, you have come back!”

Of course I immediately searched the internet for information and there it was: 4 bomb attacks in Baghdad all in the same day, all on hotels where a lot of foreigners (and also foreign journalists) stay. The Al Hamra was hit severly. 15 People killed and a lot of people wounded, mostly people who lived in the neighbourhood. Jasser, one of the drivers, was killed. Luckily the hotel itself has only damage at the ground level (windows, doors and ceilings). Nobody was killed from the staff. Thank Allah.

I am searching for images and pictures on the internet. What has happened? Then I find some photographs and there it is. On one of them I see Francis, de maitre’d’ who served us breakfast every day, a wonderful person. He was hoping to leave Baghdad and live with his brother in San Diego. Now I see Francis carrying a victim on what looks like a blanket, together with 3 other men from the Al Hamra staff. They are surrounded with ruble, the whole street has completely vanished, the houses alongside of the street have partly disappeared. And in the middle of that a huge bomb crater, right in front of the Al Hamra entrance. Unbelievable, only two months ago we were walking this street every day. It was supposed to be a safe area, because it was inside a guarded compound of the hotel.

Minka tells me she has managed to get through to one of the security guards of the hotel on the phone (its a miracle the phone still works). He is in shock but explains that a small van with gunned man have opened fire against the security guards of the hotel and  forced themsleves in through the gate. The hotel guards started shooting back and managed to kill one of them, but the other one pulled up with his van loaded with explosives right in front of the hotel. Then the bomb went off…..I don’t know what to say, it is so surreal. The sad thing is, this is the daily reality in Baghdad. Only this time it has come one inch too close to us…. I want to express my condolences to all the victims of the bomb attack. I want to express my sympathy to all the wonderful people of the hotel who have always been so nice to us. I wish them all well and a lot of courage.

For more pictures please click here….

Good evening Mister, are you free?

Today we were filming at the campus of the Baghdad Art Academy, a section of Baghdad University where a lot of filmstudents are getting their education in fine arts. The campus of the Art Academy is like an enclave of peace and liberty within this city of restrictions. You know that we can hardly move around freely here (we can’t just go out in the streets, we can’t go out at night, we can’t even leave the hotel for 5 minutes without escorts). So when you enter the campus of the Art Academy it feels like you can breathe again, as if you have landed on a different planet. This is the place where a lot famous Iraq artists, painters, writers, poets and filmmakers were trained. There is an atmosphere of openness and it’s the only place in Baghdad where we can move around freely with our camera. When we were walking around a lot of students came up to us trying to practice their English, asking where are you from, what are you doing here? This morning a nice looking young guy whispered to me: “Goodevening mister, are you free?”  I didn’t really know what to answer. “Salam Aleikum, habibi kefayek?”, I said. Maybe it wasn’t exactly the right answer, but at least it was an effort to communicate.

Arnold in Baghdad!

Hey that’s Arnold! Arnold in Baghdad! We were having spaghetti bolognese in our hotel restaurant, when Francis, the Maitre de’H, was jumping out of his chair, watching Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Iraqi News. Arnold is in town and all Baghdadi’s are watching him on TV. Today we saw him with Prime Minister Maliki. “He will be my new neighbor in California!”, says Francis with a big smile. Francis is a Christian and he is lucky, because his brother left Iraq a long time ago and is now living in San Diego. He has arranged papers for Francis to come over to the US. Last time when we saw Francis in May, he was not looking very happy, but now he is walking around with  a big smile. Maybe Arnold was in one of the two the helicopters that were circling above our balcony this morning when we were filming. Security in Baghdad is more then ever, check points everywhere.

Yesterday I had my unlucky day. We went out in the car with our assitant Faeq. I was holding my small handycam to make a few shots from out of the window. Nothing special, very carefully. But when we arrived a few minutes later at a checkpoint (I had put the camera away long time before) we were stopped by 3 very mean looking men.”What were you filming? Who are you? Give us your passports and your camera”, they yelled. How did they know? Appearantly somebody (secret police?) had spotted us and had been calling the next checkpoint to get us arrested. Poor Faeq had to do all the talking to get us out of the situation (which he did splendidly!) and I was quiet embarrassed.

It seems to me that it is getting harder for the press these days to operate. Although officially there is freedom of the press now in Iraq, unofficially they don’t like foreign journalists with their camera’s telling negative stories about their country and their politics. Last week an Iraqi court ordered the British newspaper The Guardian to pay 52.000 pound, because one of it’s journalists, the well known Iraqi correspondent Ghaith Abdul Ahad, had been writing a critical piece about Maliki.  It’s all because of the elections they say here, well let’s hope that it will be over soon.   

Dolma party at the filmschool

Suzan has arrived!

8.45 In the morning. Ahmed the driver is picking me, Esmeralda, up from the hotel. Yesterday he has bought me a ticket to Kuwait. Not that I am going to Kuwait, but this is the only way to get into the terminal building if you don’t posses a special airport bagde. If you can show a ticket, then they will let you pass. Please sit in front of the car, only the VIP’s  sit in the back, he says. So I get in the car next to him. When we are approaching the airport, Ahmed is holding up his badge out of the window. From 20 meters distance, the guards can check his badge (with binoculars?) and we hear a voice through the speaker telling us that we may proceed. Ahmed wispers with a big smile: “By the way, your flight is at noon.”

Going to the airport sounds simple, but here in Baghdad nothing is simple. Before you can enter the terminal building you have to go through 5 different checkpoints, where you have to get in and out of the car many times, get body searched twice, and your bags are searched three times, so you feel pretty much like a criminal. After 1,5 hours of waiting finally the flight from Amman has landed. I search for a long tall blonde and indeed, there she is! Suzan, our camera women from Amsterdam has arrived! As we leave the terminal building some of the drivers that were here yesterday as well, shout to Ahmed: “Hey didn’t she arrive here yesterday?” Ahmed only smiles, wispering to me: “Come to think of it, there wasn’t even a flight to Kuwait today”. He leaves me in the dark, is this true or is this one of his Iraqi jokes again?

Back in the Happy H. Hotel

‘Welcome back in our hotel we missed you!’, were the first words of welcome when we entered the Happy H. hotel this morning in Baghdad. After a few months of absence (in which we have been editing, travelling, working hard in Amsterdam and Cairo) we are finally back in Baghdad for our last round of filming here at the school and with the students. We can’t wait to see the students and see how they are doing. Some have had good times, and others have had bad times. But the best news of today is that one of the students, Emad, just got married (see picture of Emad and his wife). Congratulations Emad, we are really happy for you. Hope to see Emad soon.

Baghdad is hectic, noisy and dusty as ever. Lots of patrols out in the street, even more then last time. That’s because of the big bomb blast that happened here over a week ago, right in the middle of the city. It killed more then hundred people. Baghdadi’s say it is because of the elections coming up in January. Democracy can be a messy and bloody proces. Since it’s the third time that we are visiting the hotel, the manager has decided to upgrade us to the Third Floor. This is the floor where all the serious journalistst are staying, so we are very honored. Our neighbors now are  journalists from serious news papers (I can’t name any names because of security). The third floor also means that we have two sets of steel barred doors with 24/7 armed guards on our hallway. We have to pass the steel doors before we can get to our rooms. Our luxury suit has a kitchen with a real hotplate that works! We have very nice fluorescent lighting in our living room (which reminds me a bit of a dentist office), and in my bedroom I have a real painting hanging above my bed of a pastoral Italian landscape. Very peaceful.. So in moments of stress and despair, we only have to take a glance at the panting and I know we will find peace and serenity. Tomorrow our Dutch camera woman, Suzan, will arrive here in Baghdad so we are looking forward to pick her up from the airport and hope she will have a good flight to Amman tonight.

Iraqi cultural event on June 28

On Sunday June 28, 2009, a Iraqi cultural event takes place in Delft, The Netherlands. The event is organised by the Iraqi Social and Cultural Society of Delft, Iraqi Democratic Youth Union Netherlands, the Iraqi Women’s league and the Nyama Foundation. Dutch people can familiarise themselves with Iraqi culture. Iraqi’s will wear their traditional clothing and will perform folk songs and dances, like chobie and debka. A well known Iraqi singer, Wisaam Ayoeb, will be performing at the event as well, accompanied by an ancient instrument called the Alsatoor.

Furthermore, Iraqi items and photographs from Iraq will be exhibited and Iraqi dishes will be served. The activities will take place between 12:00 h and 18:00 h. Location of the event is Sardinoweg 169 in Delft.

The Iraqi Social and Cultural Society organises several activities throughout the year. Its objectives are to raise awareness of the Iraqi cultural heritance and the current events in Iraq, the celebration of National holidays, to establish arts and sports committees and to organise activities especially for women. The society is based at Wijkcentrum De Hofstee in Delft, The Netherlands.

Pictures of Baghdad on Flickr.com

Take a look at the pictures Shuchen Tan and her film crew made while they were visiting the Baghdad Art Academy and Baghdad Filmschool in Iraq. Check out the photo’s on Flickr.com. We’ll be introducing each of the filmstudents on this blog to you soon!

CityOneMinutes Baghdad

Take one city, split the citylife in 24 hours, and capture each hour in a one minute film. The result is www.cityoneminutes.org an initiative from Holland Doc editor in chief Hansje van Etten and Jos Houweling, director of the One Minutes Foundation. Cities from all around the world can be seen on the interactive website, and more films are added every day.

The artist Anne Verhoijsen, who made CityOneMinutes in Cairo, was planning to travel to Baghdad to do the same thing there. She later decided not to go, but her friend, the musician Sattar al Saadi (born in Baghdad, living in the Netherlands since 15 years), did go and is doing his best to film, which is not easy because of the security situation. Anne is keeping us up to date on Sattar’s adventures on her weblog. (more…)