From Baghdad to Brooklyn

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Synopsis Budget Project's Financial Needs Other Financial Support Current Stage of Production Estimated Completion Date Background Timeline

Synopsis

From exile in Syria to a new start in America, one journalist chronicles a gay Iraqi model’s journey and the unlikely friendship that emerges.

At the height of the violence in Iraq, 60,000 people left their homes every month for sanctuary in neighboring countries – mainly Jordan and Syria.
Some faced additional threats to their lives. In 2006, the Shiite Supreme Leader Ayatollah ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa against homosexuals: "They should be killed in the most severe way possible." Mohamed, a 24-year-old gay man from Baghdad, received one such threat on the doorstep of his family’s home. He fled his country shortly thereafter.

Nicknamed “Kuki” for his outlandish behavior, Mohamed is not your 'typical refugee'. A former fashion model with an eccentric personality and eternally obsessed with American popular culture and dance, it's hard to imagine that Kuki not only lived under Sadaam Hussein, but performed for him too, as a child dancer.

American video journalist Jennifer Utz crossed paths with Mohamed while covering the refugee crisis in the spring of 2007. Intrigued by his story, she initially began documenting his life as an Iraqi refugee living in the slums of Damascus, Syria.

What started out as reportage about the living conditions of exiled Iraqis soon grew into a story of the complicated relationship between filmmaker and subject. Utz is drawn into the whimsical world Mohamed has created to escape from the cold reality of his everyday hardships. As their friendship blossoms through various adventures—from crashing presidential election parties in Damascus to staging impromptu "modeling" shoots, the line between 'objective journalism' and the common humanity in us all becomes blurred as Utz surrenders the role of passive observer and becomes a friend. Rather than film his life deteriorate in front of her eyes, Utz becomes determined to help him start a new life.

After two years of phone calls, letters, bureaucracy, pain, tears, and glimmers of hope, Utz is successful in getting Mohamed refugee asylum status in the United States. But when he finally reaches Brooklyn, Mohamed realizes that the quest to recapture the years lost by war and displacement and start a new life in the United States is not as seamless as the 'American Dream' painted in the popular TV shows and movies he grew up watching.

FROM BAGHDAD TO BROOKLYN chronicles this unlikely friendship as well as Mohammed's journey, from a family torn apart and his life in exile, to his new start in Brooklyn, and the continued realities and hardships that he faces in his freshly adopted home.

Budget:

$ 195,400.00

Project's Financial Needs

PRODUCTION
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER SALARY
CAMERA – DAMASCUS VIDEO DIARY
SYRIA/US - CAMERA PERSON/EQUIPMENT
SYRIA/US - SOUND PERSON/EQUIPMENT
SYRIA/US - TRAVEL TRANSPORT/CAR/AIR/TRAIN
SYRIA- HOTEL/LIVING EXPENSES
SHIPPING VIDEO DIARY TAPES TO NEW YORK FROM DAMASCUS
TAPE STOCK
INSURANCE/FINANCIAL/LEGAL
OTHER PRODUCTION COSTS

POST-PRODUCTION
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER SALARY
EDITOR/ASSISTANT EDITOR
FACILITY ARRANGEMENTS/EQUIPMENT
COLOR CORRECTION
SOUND POST/MIX
MUSIC COPYRIGHT
SUBTITLES
GRAPHICS
TRANSCRIBE
TRANSLATION
TRAILER

DISTRIBUTION
WEBSITE/MARKETING/PUBLICITY
DVD AUTHORING/DUPLICATION/DESIGN
FESTIVAL APPLICATIONS
ADMIN

Other financial Support

I'm funding this through my "bread and butter" web design job, and I have no other producers on-board, so it's been like raising a child. If anyone wants to co-produce with me, let's talk!

CHICKEN AND EGG PICTURES - applied

CINEREACH - applied

I have applied for a grant from the Robeson Foundation but won't receive the results until August.

Current stage of production

Production

Estimated Completion Date

06/01/2010

Background

The subject of homosexuality in Middle-Eastern countries is a sensitive one. Homosexuals are often persecuted by their governments. In Syria, where Mohamed is currently living, homosexuality is illegal. Hiding one’s sexuality creates a sense of isolation, so most homosexuals from the region have a hard time simply admitting their sexual orientation, because for their entire lives, they’ve been taught that the feelings they are having are ones of which they ought to be ashamed. When I first met Mohamed, he insisted he was heterosexual, but through the time I’ve spent developing a strong friendship with him, he was eventually able to speak to me honestly about his sexuality. This kind of intimacy has created a situation where he’s open and willing to share his entire life with me on camera.

Timeline

The film is currently in the latter stages of production.  The shooting would ideally continue until the end of 2010, before moving on to post-production and distribution.  I am assisted in this effort by a team of dedicated professionals working on a voluntary basis to finish and distribute the film.  Filming started in February 2007 in Damascus, Syria and footage was collected over the course of the following two years in the Middle East and the United States.  Thus far, research and production have been self-funded.