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. It 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.
“An intimately personal and surreal visual prism”
–Underground Film Journal
Read “Baghdad, Iowa: Cinema of the Unseen”
Written and Directed by Usama Alshaibi
HD, 34:00 minutes, 2015
Starring Anastasia Davis, Natasha Lovaas,
Shayn Herndon, Alfred Ferraris, Kristin Keating
Cinematography by Robert Ortega and Ryan Ela
Sound by Russ Hess and Grayson Simon
Executive Producer Kristie Alshaibi
Co-Producers Naomi Weingast and Merritt Crocker
Music by Azita Youssefi and City of Djinn
Women’s clothing by Maha Moda
Masks by Lindsey Lakotas, Maha Moda, Usama Alshaibi
Make-up and Costume by Keilani Fuqua, Amanda Baker, Lindsey Lakotas
Costume Assistance Yasmine Sweets
Hand-painted rug by Stephanie Kantor
Art Direction by Seabrooke Mooney
Assistant Camera by Danny Beard and John Regalado
Assistant Camera and Grip by Alana Murphy
Additional Cinematography by
Daniel Anson, Danny Beard, Usama Alshaibi
Production Assistants Erin Swenson, Jason Phelps, Ryan Blair
Natives of Baghdad Iowa are Alicia Ramirez, Joshua Elliot, Lynne Jordan, Keilani Fuqua, David Lasker, Lindsey Lakatos, Nicholas Wagner, Ian Murdock, Yasmine Sweets, Amanda Baker, Daniel Sharkey, Megan Gafford, Naomi Weingast, Natasha Krinsky, Jason Phelps, Erin Swenson and Kristie Alshaibi