A two-part screening of the documentary “Homeland: Iraq Year Zero” - a up-close look at how everyday life was turned upside after the United States declared war in 2003 - will be presented at Fredonia on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 4 and 5. A discussion with Abbas Fahdel, its creator, will conclude the Part 2 presentation.
Part 1 of “Homeland” will be shown on Tuesday, 5 to 8 p.m., in McEwen Hall Room 202, while Part 2 of the screening and conversation with the French-Iraqi director will be held on Wednesday, 6 to 9 p.m., in the Kelly Family Auditorium in the Science Center.
The film, released in 2015, has been hailed by entertainment trade magazine Variety as a “transformative verité glimpse into the lives of everyday Iraqis (that) demands both patience and empathy to sit through, but the reward is worth every second.” The Huffington Post declared it the “most significant work of art to come out of the Iraq war.”
In February 2002, a year before the U.S. military intervention began, Fahdel traveled home from France to capture everyday life as his country prepared for war. He zeroed in on family and friends as they went about their business, with much of the action seen through the eyes of the director’s 12-year-old nephew, Haider.
Upon Fahdel’s return to continue filming in 2003, two weeks after the war started, daily activities such as going to school or shopping at the market had become nearly impossible. Many areas of Baghdad had been closed off to ordinary citizens, yet everyone pressed on.
The young Haider represents, in various ways, the voice of his people. “Homeland,” whose title was inspired by Roberto Rossellini’s “Germany Year Zero” (1948), is considered among the most essential and urgent documentaries of recent times. Often recalling American documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, Fahdel's intrepidly curious yet always unassuming camera patiently gathers intimate moments to assemble a rough-hewn epic of naturalist cinema and a searing, courageous act of testimony.
The two-part presentation is free and open to the public.
While on campus, Fahdel will visit several classes to meet students majoring in Video Production and French.
