Sari's Mother
Concordia University (Montreal)
Monday March 10, 2008
Screening begins 19h30
Venue: Room H-110, Concordia's Hall Building
Iraq/USA / 2006 / 21min
Sari's Mother will be followed by a screening of 33 Days.
Filmed in Iraq over a period of one year, SARI’S MOTHER is a short documentary that follows the struggle of an
Iraqi mother to help for her 10-year-old son, Sari, who is dying of AIDS.
The Zegum family lives in the restive Mahmudiyah area of central Iraq. They make their living by selling milk and
butter, farming land rented from their neighbors. As the film opens US military helicopters are flying low over their
fields. Sari’s mother administers injections to her son, whose condition is gradually deteriorating as his immune system
fails. She seeks help in Baghdad’s hospitals and ministries, but discovers that the Iraqi healthcare system is in
even worse condition under US occupation than before the war.
DIRECTORS STATEMENT:
When I came back to Iraq after the 2003 invasion I was looking for personal stories to document that would also shed
light on the larger picture of life in Iraq. Over a period of two full years I filmed six different stories in different parts of the country. Three of these stories were woven into my feature documentary, IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS (2006), which
premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Though the story of SARI’S MOTHER was one of the most compelling that I
filmed in Iraq it was not included in that larger film, and I am very happy that I have now been able to complete it as
an individual work.
Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Sound Recordist, Sound Editor, Composer: JAMES LONGLEY
Editors: JAMES LONGLEY and FIONA OTWAY
35mm transfer services: ALPHA CINE LABS, SEATTLE
Color timer: RYAN ADAMS
Digital Services: MARC BROWN
Audio Post Services: BAD ANIMALS STUDIOS, SEATTLE
Re-Recording Mixer: SAM GRAY
Re-Recording Supervisor: DAVE HOWE
fixers / translators:
NADEEM HAMID, ALI ZEKI, AHMED AYYAD, ISTIFAN BRAYMOK, ALAN ENWIYA, and ZAID FAHMI
