Film Reporter - April 11, 2003

During the past few days, as the war in Iraq has turned from the southern deserts to Baghdad to the mountains of northern Iraq, Americans have been offered dozens of televised images of Kurdish warriors, eager to reclaim their towns and cities, exulting over the demise of Saddam Hussein.

But as Kurdish-Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi has watched events unfold, he is convinced that for all the airtime Kurds are suddenly receiving on American news channels, their story still has not been told.

"Very few Americans or Europeans have an accurate image of the Kurds," Ghobadi said during a visit to Los Angeles this week. "The image they have of the Kurds is one of men holding weapons. There are no other images of other Kurds."

Ghobadi hopes his new film "Marooned in Iraq" offers a more comprehensive view of the Kurdish people. "The mother and fathers and children are my stars, not the world leaders who make the decisions that affect them," he said. "By making this film, I hope to offer a more accurate introduction to the Kurdish people."

"Marooned" is set during the final days of the Iran-Iraq War in the late '80s as Kurds flee toward the Iranian border to escape Saddam.

The subtitled film tells the story of an elderly Iranian Kurd musician who ventures off with his two sons into the dangerous territory of Kurdish Iraq in search of his wife, who they fear may be in danger after she ran away with the old man's best friend.

Wellspring Cinema will release the film April 25 in New York and then bring it to Los Angeles on May 23. In one sense, its release seems timely because Kurds are in the news. On the other hand, its release could run into indifference if its potential audience grows too weary of the constant stream of war images on television. Ghobadi himself is not sure how events are likely to impact the fate of his film.

"The timing could go either way," he said. "But the very negative images broadcast repeatedly of war and violence are contradicted by the images of this film. My feeling is that this film will have a positive reception so long as people are willing to see it."

Spending the past week in the United States also has served as something of an education for Ghobadi.

"Coming to America was a really difficult decision for me to make," he said. "But what encourages me is what I have seen of the real people in this country as opposed to what I see on the cinema and media that comes from this country. I believe that the media in no way reflects the real citizens of America, just as it has misrepresented others around the world."

As soon as he returns home to Iran, Ghobadi plans to embark on his next film, a project titled "Who Foretold the War?"

"It will be about Iraqi Kurds whose lives we see during and after this current war," he said. And even though their story is in flux, "You can't wait to start filming," he added urgently. "You just can't wait."