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FILM |
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Longleys prepare Academy Awards
posted 02/24/2007
On his Web site, Longley says, "My aim with "Iraq in Fragments" was to introduce the viewer to the breadth and complexity of the country, showing not only the divisions, but the unifying forces that tie it together. It is important to me that this film presents many layers and points of view - reflecting the diversity I found. Iraq is a country with an uncertain future, a country that may cease to exist as a unified whole. "Iraq in Fragments" poses the future of Iraq as an open question, left unanswered." Margaret, James's younger sister, flew to Los Angeles Friday, Feb. 23 from Maine where she is attending college. She will be accompanying James to the awards show. Margaret went to Iraq and shot some footage which was used n the film. James and Margaret's parents are Roger and Alison Longley of Friday Harbor. Roger Longley said Margaret had appointments Friday to try on a several gowns. "Iraq in Fragments" will be shown at Western Washington University at 7 p.m. on Feb. 27. Check out www.myspace.com/iraqinfragments for a list of showings, awards and comments about the film.
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Synopsis Iraq In Fragments illuminates post-war Iraq in three acts, building a vivid picture of a country pulled in different directions by religion and ethnicity. Filmed in cinema verité style, the film powerfully explores the lives of ordinary Iraqis: people whose thoughts, beliefs, aspirations, and concerns are at once personal and illustrative of larger issues in Iraq today. Part One follows Mohammed Haithem, an 11-year-old auto mechanic in t h e mixed Sheik Omar neighborhood in the heart of old Baghdad. With his father missing, Mohammed idolizes his domineering boss, working feverishly for approval and affection. Several years behind in school and waylaid by war’s intervention, he’s torn between education and apprenticeship. Through Mohammed’s eyes we see a growing disenchantment with the U.S.-led occupation, as well as tensions between Shia and Sunni Iraqis. Shown in extreme close-up, Mohammed’s Bagdhad is a city caught between an idealized past, a dangerous present, and an uncertain future. Part Two is filmed inside the Shiite political/religious movement of Moqtada Sadr, traveling between Naseriyah and the holy city of Najaf. As tensions mount inside the country, we see the inner workings of Iraqi local politics as the Sadr movement pushes for regional elections and enforces their interpretation of Islamic law. Assuming control over the region, Mehdi Army militia overtake open markets and imprison suspected merchants of alcohol. Detainees and their impoverished families plea for mercy from this new authority. As the United States provokes an armed uprising among Sadr’s followers, moderate views are swept aside. Part Three follows Iraqi Kurds as they assert their bid for independence, rebelling against the past atrocities of Baghdad rule. We follow these developments through the eyes of brick makers and childhood friends on a farm south of Arbil. An elderly farmer ruminates on his family, his people, and God, mindful of the legacy they all share, while his teenaged son tends sheep and dreams of medical school despite his father’s desire that he serve God. We hear voices of both independence and nationalism, sentiments secular and religious, revealing a community where politics and faith are personal, public, and forever closely intertwined. |
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Longley wins three awards at Sundance
posted 1/20/2006
New to the Sundance Film Festival this year was an award recognizing excellence in Documentary Film Editing. Films in the Documentary Competition are eligible for this award. The 2006 prize was given to Billy McMillin, Fiona Otway and James Longley, editors of Iraq in Fragments. Longley's film shown at Sundance
posted 1/20/2006
On his Web site, Longley says, "My aim with "Iraq in Fragments" was to introduce the viewer to the breadth and complexity of the country, showing not only the divisions, but the unifying forces that tie it together. It is important to me that this film presents many layers and points of view - reflecting the diversity I found. Iraq is a country with an uncertain future, a country that may cease to exist as a unified whole. "Iraq in Fragments" poses the future of Iraq as an open question, left unanswered." More information about the making of the film is available at iraqinfragments.com. The film will be shown at the Arab Film Festival in Seattle in March. Longley film reviewed in NY Timesposted 08/01/02
Filmmaker heads to KurdistanStory by Sharon Kivisto posted 06/21/04
The two documentaries will be part of an eight-part series her brother James is creating. He has been working on the project for two years. They hope to be in an editing room in Istanbul in December finishing up the series which is being filmed cinema verité style. If all goes as planned, the series will be released in Spring 2005. Her goal is not to change minds but rather to provide a way for people to learn about another culture. "I want to create an intimate portrait of Kurdish village life," she said. "it is important for the citizens of each country to know each other's culture and history." Filming at the women's shelter in Arpel will be done first. The shelter houses teenage girls who can't return home, widowed women, and single women with children. "There are a lot of women, a lot of different stories," she said. James Longley knows the woman who runs the shelter. She is "very enthusiastic" about the film project, Margaret said. James, 32, is a respected documentary filmmaker. Margaret appreciates the opportunity to work on a project of this caliber. "It (documentrary filmmaking) is something I want to do," she said. "I became interested in photography when I was a kid. Film is an amazing form of art and documentary is quite an amazing form of cinema. I wouldn't be able to do this now, at my age and my level of experience if it wasn't for James." Asked if she was nervous about traveling to Iraq. She said she was but believes she will be OK. She intends to stay in Kurdistan and avoid Bagdad, Mozul and other dangerous areas. She will meet up with her brother occasionally but will be working mainly alone. While she is comfortable working the professional digital camera she's taking with her, "I'll have to become real good, real fast," she said. She has experienced living in another culture. She spent six months in Russia and was able to pick up the language. She noted the Kurdish language is more of an Indo-European language. Financing documentary films isn't easy. James is using the proceeds from his well-reviewed Gaza Strip documentary (see stories below) to finance the Iraq series. Margaret raised enough money through fundraisers and email subscriptions to cover her expenses for three months. She hopes to be able to raise enough to stay for six months. Donations can be mailed to:
"Gaza Strip" documentary shown at UW labs
"Gaza Strip," a documentary by James Longley will be presented at 7 p.m. Friday, May 31, 2002 in the commons at UW Friday Harbor Labs on San Juan Island. Longley, who attended Friday Harbor High School as a freshman and sophomore, will answer questions after the showing. The film aired last month in Beirut. A reviewer from the The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Jan/Feb 2002 said, "Gaza Strip is an unflinchingly honest portrayal of a population under siege. As a perspective that is largely excluded from American attention, it deserves the widest possible audience." More information is available on www.littleredbutton.com Synopsis of the film"Gaza Strip" pushes the viewer headlong into the tumult of the Israeli-occupied Gaza, examining the lives and views of ordinary Palestinians. The documentary often sees the world through the eyes of young people. The central character is Mohammed Hejazi, a 13-year-old paperboy in Gaza City, one of the young "stone-throwers" who risk their lives throwing rocks at Israeli tanks across the barbwire fences. As the newspapers arrive announcing Ariel Sharon's victory in the Israeli elections, Mohammed offers up tirades against Arafat and Sharon alike. We also catch glimpses of his inner world: his sense of hopelessness, his sorrow at the IDF killing of his best friend, his conception of death. As the camera floats through the Gaza Strip, we encounter signs of the occupation everywhere: crowds of Palestinians are making their way along the beach on foot, donkey carts and tractor trailers when the Israeli soldiers close the roads. The Palestinians interviewed as they pass by reveal a common internal conflict, between anger at the Israeli occupation and the desire to live in peace. In the Khan Younis refugee camp, "Gaza Strip" documents an extremely controversial incident in February, which fell largely through the cracks of international scrutiny, when the Israeli Defense Forces used an unidentified, powerful gas during a firefight, hospitalizing over 200 Palestinians with severe recurrent convulsions. Inside a Red Cross tent near an Israeli checkpoint, a Palestinian mother and daughter debate the politics of their situation. As night falls on their camp, the mother describes how Israeli soldiers came with bulldozers, leveled their home and destroyed all of their belongings. The eye of the film is usually passive and watchful, sometimes almost invisible, even in the most intimate settings. When a Palestinian child is blown up in Rafah, we see the entire process of his internment, from morgue to mosque to grave, unblinkingly. The camera moves slowly over a Palestinian neighborhood being strafed by Israeli machine-gun fire, schoolchildren scattering. "Gaza Strip" culminates in a nighttime raid in April, when Israeli bulldozers stormed into the Khan Younis refugee camp under the cover of tank and helicopter fire, and destroyed the homes of 450 Palestinians - the first of many such armed incursions into "Area A" by the IDF. More information is available on www.littleredbutton.com |
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