Student Talk

I did an interview for Student Talk magazine, that was published in their June issue. You can browse the magazine's current issue here, and if you would like to read the interview, you can find it here. Topics covered are To Rest in Peace, Kuwaiti filmmaking, period pieces, and future goals.

Scene from the Film

Twenty years ago today, Kuwait was liberated from the occupation.

The moment is described beautifully in Jehan Rejab's memoir, Invasion Kuwait: An Englishwoman's Tale:

As I stared about me, I thought I heard a woman ululating in the distance. I ran round the other corner to look at the mosque and someone said happily, 'It's clean now.' I think they were unearthing a Kuwaiti flag. I do believe Kuwait may be FREE — FREE — FREE.

To honour the occasion, I'm posting this scene from To Rest in Peace. It has been everyone's favourite since the first draft, and my personal favourite as I was about the boy's age when Kuwait was invaded. When I asked what scene people would like to see posted, my friend Nadia said it best:

The scene with the son and his painting, to honour the bright future of Kuwait!

Jehan Rajab

Exactly twenty years ago, Jehan Rajab was living in occupied Kuwait, and keeping a diary of her experiences. She wrote this in the entry marked by today's date, January 26:

The sound of the heavy guns resounded off the walls of the buildings around us and swelled to an ear-splitting stridency; and then it was over. There was dead silence for a second and we all stared around at each other grinning delightedly, even at the soldiers. We were alive and for the moment that was wonderful.

The passage was published in her book Invasion Kuwait: An English Woman's Tale, which I just finished reading. It's a vivid account of Kuwait during the occupation.

The chapter starting with the air war and ending with a free Kuwait is presented as a day-by-day account from her 1991 diary. The following entry is also from January 26th:

We could see that the black rain had made a fearful mess of all the buildings in Kuwait. It had streaked all the walls and tiles like dirty tears and even Saluki [the desert dog] had turned from being a pale champagne colour to a dirty grey.

Mrs. Rajab is the co-director of the Tareq Rajab Museum, which provides one of the most harrowing episodes of the memoir. She writes about her efforts to hide the mass of antiquities from official looting. Day after day, she lived in fear of the house to house searches, which might reveal the hidden treasure, and often ended in execution.

On February 20th, six days before the liberation, the Iraqi army finally arrived to tear through the house. I will leave the description of this search for you to discover. She writes it with agonizing eloquence.

Invasion Kuwait is a profound record of a dark moment in history. I highly recommend it. Thanks to my cousin, Fate, for introducing me to the museum, which led me to the book.

The picture of Jehan Rajab above is from the Kuwait: Class of 1990 collection on aljazeera.net

Failaka Video

In January of this year, To Rest in Peace went to Kuwait to shoot b-roll footage. Most of it was shot on the Island of Failaka, which was completely abandoned for twenty years after the Gulf.

As we were boarding the ferry back to Kuwait, we saw tow trucks arriving on the island. You might remember this story from the January post, "News from Kuwait". They were there to remove the abandoned cars, in preparation for a complete demolition of the neighbourhood.

We were haunted by the realization that the footage we had was the last visual record of this moment of history, frozen for twenty years.

With that in mind, I decided to make this video. Some of the unused footage of Failaka is intercut here with the song "Salamun Salam" from To Rest in Peace, which is nominated for Best World Music Track at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards (in a couple of weeks!)

The footage was color corrected by Sean Conaty.

Twenty Years

Today is the twentieth anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait. To honour the occasion, I'd like to unveil a painting by my friend Ben Rathbone, inspired by the story of To Rest in Peace.

The painting was conceived as part of the promotional materials for To Rest in Peace, hearkening back to the painted movie posters of old epics, like Lawrence of Arabia. It has evolved into something so much more — a work of art in its own right.

You can find more of Ben's work on his website, http://www.480bc.com.

It's strange to reflect on the passage of time, and realize that twenty years mean an entire new generation of Kuwaitis has grown up without a memory of the occupation. I was eight, but I remember it vividly. And it's been an enlightening journey, to recreate this moment in history, and hear the memories it conjures up for those who lived through it.

My hope beyond To Rest in Peace is to document some of those memories, from the frightening, to the tragic, to even the absurd. We taped two interviews while filming in Kuwait last January, and these will be the start of such a project.

Until then, To Rest in Peace is waiting for its chance to premier, and I will keep you informed of its progress. We start hearing back from festivals in August!

News from Kuwait

2nd unit production is wrapped!

We filmed for five days on the Canon 7d, capturing b-roll footage of Kuwait. This will mainly be used to replace greenscreens for the driving shots, but we also captured some establishing shots and transitions.

Two days were spent on the island of Failaka, which was like entering a time machine. The entire neighbourhood is a ghost town, left as it was during the occupation, twenty years ago. There were cars in the driveways, and houses pock marked with machine gun fire. One wall had graffiti declaring a "Free Kuwait". Another was marked by soldiers, taunting that "this will be the mother of all battles".

It was a strange journey, made even more haunting by what we discovered as we were leaving. We saw trucks towing the abandoned cars out to the ferry. The very next day, it turned out, they were going to demolish the old houses. We managed to film there just in time.

Thanks to everyone who made this trip so joyful and productive. Sean Conaty, who shot hours of beautiful footage. Ali Younis, who gave generously of his time and equipment, acting both as 1st AC and production manager during the Failaka trip. Abdullah Al-Matrouk, who managed our last day of production, and doubled as an actor. Esam Al-Kazemi, Mohammad Al-Qattan, Abdulaziz Al-Mobailish, Haider Al-Mosawi, my dad Faisal Al-Matrouk, and everyone else who gave their passion and support to this project.