Sundance Channel on Iraq: 6th Anniversary

(noon. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

The Sundance Channel just launched a website in observance of the sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

From a post by Anna Brew, found at After Downing Street hattip for the lead:

The highlight of the site is a large collection of webisodes and clips from two documentaries that will premiere on television on March 19th (the date of the 2003 invasion): Hometown Baghdad and Heavy Metal in Baghdad. Both films capture the day-to-day realities confronted by Iraqi citizens.

Hometown Baghdad

HOMETOWN BAGHDAD

Hometown Baghdad follows three Iraqi college students based in Baghdad as they try to maintain a semblance of normal existence amidst the escalating violence and chaos around them. Expanding the acclaimed 2007 online series of the same name, directors Hawes, Hillis and Turkey deliver a visceral portrait of the war’s toll, interweaving their chronicle with footage from their subjects’ frank video diaries.

The online version of Hometown Baghdad was created and produced by the New York-based Chat the Planet and drew hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide when it launched in March 2007. The series won

three 2008 Webby Awards, in the categories News and Politics Series, Public Service and Activism, and Reality. In an article about the online series for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, pop culture critic

Cary Darling wrote that the series’ scenes of ordinary lives “offer a glimpse into a society few knew existed: young Iraqis who are clinging to a global, middle-class identity while the world around them crumbles into chaos.”

Heavy Metal in Baghdad

HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD

Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi’s Heavy Metal in Baghdad follows the heavy metal band Acrassicauda from the fall of Saddam in 2003 through the nightmare of the 2006 insurgency and into their new lives as

“heavy metal refugees.” Moretti and Alvi, who are the chiefs of VICE Films and VICE Records, established a relationship with Acrassicauda when it was profiled in VICE magazine in 2003; they began their

efforts to film the band in 2005, when their company sponsored an Acrassicauda concert at a Baghdad hotel. Heavy Metal in Baghdad is their feature directorial debut. In a review of the New York Times,

Nathan Lee called the film “an intrepid, unlikely and altogether splendid feat of D.I.Y. reportage. … this rock-doc like no other electrifies its genre and redefines headbanging as an act of hard-core courage.”

Acrassicauda has been featured in the NYTimes and Fox News … and they’ve seen some attention from Metallica

IRAQ ON SUNDANCE

Films & Stories About the Conflict

For the last six years, Sundance Channel has been following the happenings of the Iraq War through riveting documentaries and features. Each story is presented though a unique perspective, from political analysts giving their two cents to 20-something Iraqis trapped in a war zone. Each story gives a unique, human perspective on this thoroughly complicated conflict.

Here are some other perspectives on the Iraq War that have appeared on sundancechannel.com:

Read about TAKING CHANCE, a feature that premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival starring Kevin Bacon. Based on a true story, it tells of a Marine who volunteers to escort the remains of a 19-year-old killed in Iraq to his family in a small Wyoming town.

Learn more about Iraq’s national water and land planning efforts in order to secure long-term stability and security of their country. Particularly in the Middle East, there is a great need for the availability of fresh water.

View festival coverage on IN THE LOOP, a satire on the inner workings of the US and British government prior to a major invasion. It features a stellar ensemble cast that includes James Gandolfini, Tom Hollander, and Anna Chlumsky.

Check out BODY OF WAR, another standout documentary as told through the eyes of a young soldier who was paralyzed from the chest down after being shot in Sadr City, Iraq. It airs on March 16th at 7:30pm.

IN THE LOOP

Writer/director Armando Iannucci’s IN THE LOOP, a film participating in the 2009 Sundance FIlm Festival. It is a comedic satire about American and British relations prior to a major invasion.

………………….

If Armando Iannucci’s political farce about the road to war through the corridors of power weren’t so funny, it would be utterly terrifying. When a British cabinet minister, Simon Foster, comments publicly that he thinks war is “unforeseeable,” the result is an immediate bollocking from Malcolm Tucker, the prime minister’s testy bulldog pushing for war. Unable to clarify his position, Simon is sent to Washington, where, trying desperately to be important, he meets Karen Clark, a U.S. State.>>>>>>>>>>