An exceptional and troubling document
TAREQ AZIZ
-THE OTHER TRUTH-
IRAQ:
JOURNEY TO THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM
Time: 58 minutes
Subject: Consequences of the embargo on the Iraqi population.The economic, social, health-care and educational situation in the country. Effects of radioactive contamination on the population, the environment and U. S. Gulf War veterans.
Production: Two years of research. Three months of shooting over the whole territory.
Narrator: Greg Snegof
Director: Jean-Marie Benjamin
Producer: Promovideo Srl, Italy
Versions available also in French and Italian
The film examines the economic, social and health impacts of the embargo on the population and the effects of radioactive contamination due to the depleted uranium in the weapons used during the Gulf War. One sequence also focuses on the situation of education and of Baghdad University. The documentary was made in the following cities: Baghdad, Samarra, Mossul, Nippur, Nineveh, Kerbala, Babylon, Geefel, Ur of the Chaldees, Basra and on the battlefields of the Gulf War.
The documentary includes four exclusive documents:
* Bombings of December 1998 filmed from the Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad.
* An interview with the Apostolic Nuncio in Baghdad (Vatican ambassador to Iraq).
* A camera-car on "Death Highway" filmed in August 1991.
* The interior of the mosque at Nadjav, a Shiite shrine, filmed for the first time by a western camera crew.
The documentary also includes interviews with American Gulf War veterans, European specialists in infectious diseases, experts in nuclear science and a declaration by the Iraqi Minister for Health.
To receive a copy of this video (available in PAL-SECAM-NTSC versions), please send your request to: JMB Recording Studio
IRAQ SOLIDARITY ACTION
Director: Jean-Marie Benjamin
Photography: Francesco Bistocchi, Massimo Santopaolo
Video-editing: Arcangelo Cellini (Photo Clip)
Music: Jean-Marie Benjamin
Assistants: Arnaldo Alunni Bistocchi, Wasfi Gammoh
Post-production: Promovideo Perugia
Management: Rasem Adnan Rasem, Alvaro Palanga
Executive Producer: Promovideo srl - Perugia
Public Relations: Vera Rainer
With the participation of Kasim Shadhan, Saoud Nasim Al Samaray and Rasem Adnan Rasem
The embargo against Iraq violates many fundamental human rights and the human dignity of the population. Starving civilians as a political strategy is strictly forbidden by international law. Jean-Marie Benjamin and a technical crew covered more than 4500 kilometers in Iraq to film the story of Kasim, an adolescent who travels the whole length and breadth of the country searching for his father, going to places that have not been filmed since the beginning of the embargo. The result is this film, in the form of a video-clip, entitled "IRAQ SOLIDARITY ACTION" (20 minutes) which shows the tragic consequences of more than seven years of embargo and denounces the atrocity of these inhuman sanctions which cause the death of more than 5000 children a month. In addition to Iraq's incredibly beautiful landscape, the film reveals a warm, hospitable and admirably dignified people.
To receive a copy of this video (available in PAL-SECAM-NTSC versions), please send your request to: JMBSudio
