Experiencing Interruptions?

Baghdad, Iowa

This liminal landscape, artificial yet grounded in a personal cultural mash-up of memory and pain, is seen through the camera, or the windshield as screen, as an attempt to reach a border between the seen and unseen. The town Baghdad, Iowa, is an imagined place that is transitional and conceptual. It is a place that connects my personal memories and trauma to an artistic space, which in turn allows both fears and desires to be expressed. Baghdad, Iowa is the mask, the shadow and the night stars that sing the sorrow song of death. The traveler is you and the voice you hear is your own. You might be dreaming, so don’t wake up until you arrive in Baghdad, Iowa.

  • Usama Alshaibi
    Director
    American Arab, Profane, Nice Bombs
  • Usama Alshaibi
    Writer
  • Kristie Alshaibi
    Producer
    Nice Bombs, Profane
  • Anastasia Davis
    Key Cast
  • Usama Alshaibi
    Key Cast
  • Alfred Ferraris
    Key Cast
  • Shayn Herndon
    Key Cast
  • Natasha Lovaas
    Key Cast
  • Robert Ortega
    Cinematographers
  • Ryan Ela
    Cinematographers
  • Project Type:
    Other
  • Genres:
    Mystery, Experimental, Drama, Dream
  • Runtime:
    34 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    7,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
Director Biography - Usama Alshaibi

Usama Alshaibi was born in Baghdad, Iraq and spent his formative years living between the United States and the Middle East. His work has been screened at numerous film festivals and venues across the globe. In early 2004 Usama and his wife returned to his birthplace in Iraq to shoot his first feature documentary titled Nice Bombs. The documentary had a theatrical release in 2007 and a broadcast premiere on the Sundance Channel in March 2008.

Usama has completed more than forty short films that are on various international DVD compilations. His films have screened at such places as Anthology Film Center in New York and The Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. He has also produced and directed music videos for a variety of musicians and record labels.

In addition to reaching an eclectic audience with his film work, Alshaibi’s photography and art have been included in various gallery exhibitions, art books and web publications.

Feature articles have been written about his work in such places as the Chicago Tribune, Time Out, Punk Planet and Variety. An interview with Usama appears in Studs Terkel’s book Hope Dies Last and his films have been included in Jack Sargeant’s book Deathtripping: The Extreme Underground. His coming-of-Arab story is also included in a chapter in Louis Cainkar’s book, Homeland Insecurity: The Arab American and Muslim American Experience After 9/11.

Alshaibi’s documentary films have received several grants, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation award, an award from the Creative Capital Foundation for the Arts, and two Playboy Foundation awards. He is also the winner of the Creative Promise award at Tribeca All Access in New York City.

Usama was commissioned by Detroit Public Television to direct and produce two segments for the award-winning 13-part series Arab-American Stories; which aired nationally on Public Television stations in the summer and fall of 2012.

Alshaibi’s 2011 narrative feature, Profane, has won several awards, including best feature at the Boston Underground Film Festival. His second documentary feature, American Arab, is produced under a Diversity Fellowship at Kartemquin Films. The fellowship was enacted with support from the MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. The documentary had a world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and an American premiere at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. American Arab has secured domestic and international distribution and is available on iTunes, Amazon, DVD and Cable VOD.

Baghdad, Iowa is his most current project.

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Director Statement

The framework constructed under the concept of Baghdad, Iowa; which acts as a conceptual apparatus that produces art and media. The film, objects, and artwork connected to Baghdad, Iowa are all manifestations of this concept. They take on their own appearance, depending on the medium they travel through.

This liminal landscape, artificial yet grounded in a personal cultural mash-up of memory and pain, is seen through the camera, or the windshield as screen, as an attempt to reach a border between the seen and unseen. The town Baghdad, Iowa, is an imagined place that is transitional and conceptual. It is a place that connects my personal memories and trauma to an artistic space, which in turn allows both fears and desires to be expressed. The 34-minute film Baghdad, Iowa, is the most complex system in this expression, but the other works also have autonomy and connected narratives. The exhibition or film is one way to view the construct of Baghdad, Iowa. This hybrid concept can be expressed and evolved in many forms.

There are emotional components connected to growing up between Iowa and Iraq that are pulled from my memory. These components, and the early death of my brother, compose the larger wheel inside a metaphoric golden watch moving us forward. Trauma, recovery and the restless traveler are the themes expressed here in a type of augmented reality through a common formula: Baghdad, Iowa.