Filming Now:
CAMP UNITY
in Iraq
Soulbird Films
Thank you,
Mount Vernon Printing
for your generous donation of printing services for outreach in
Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Iraq
Mount Vernon Printing
1713 Mount Vernon Rd
Suite 4
Atlanta, GA 30338 - USA
+1 (770) 394-8099
www.mountvernonprinting.com
From the Projects Blog
June 25, 2008
CAMP UNITY Team Heads to Iraq in 4 Days
posted by Ryan White
On June 21, the CAMP UNITY team completed our second fundraising goal on IndieGoGo just in the nick of time (with only about 62 hours before the fundraising period closed). This is excellent news as we will be departing for Kurdistan in about 4 days! There is still a ton to do to prepare for the trip and these last minute funds arrived just in time to make sure that we will have everything we need for the 5 week shoot in Iraq. The money raised will be channelled into the equipment costs for filming the documentary (microphones, lighting gear, camera lenses, filters, etc.)
June 21, 2008
Filming Finished (at least for now)
posted by Elaine Power
We just finished filming the last interview, with “Sophie”, who agreed to be part of the film only if she could remain anonymous and her face not shown. She doesn’t want her daughter to suffer the stigma associated with living on welfare. Sophie’s story is somewhat different from the other women. She ended up on social assistance after spending three months in hospital for severe depression, and thought it would be temporary, until she got back on her feet. That was 15 years ago. She has been in and out of the hospital many times since then, unable to hold down a full-time job. It is only in the last few years that she finally got on the right medication, and she is able to work part-time and hasn’t been in the hospital. She spoke eloquently about the stigma attached to being on social assistance and the financial struggles that force mothers to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do, so that they can provide for their children.
June 19, 2008
Two More Days of Filming
posted by Elaine Power
Only two more days of filming. The days have been very very full, and intense. Yesterday we did a shoot with Pam, who is very lively and animated. Although her story is similar to Debbie’s and Summer’s, it doesn’t have the same heavy quality, partly because she has a very strong political analysis and feels very much a part of a group of people who are poor - she calls them “my people” and knows that there are structural, systemic reasons why “her people” are poor.
Current Projects
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- AMDL!? Film Festival Poland
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November 5-9, 2008
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- Edalat Square World Tour
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Edalat Square: Opera in One Act is an award-winning 45-minute music-theatre production that addresses the case of Mahmoud and Ayaz: a case that put the plight of gays in Iran in the international spotlight.
Soulbird Films
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- Camp Unity Iraq
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CAMP UNITY is the story of music, dance, and theater students from different areas and ethno-religious backgrounds of Iraq attending an American performing arts academy in Erbil and Suleimanya, overcoming personal and cultural conflicts and improving their artistic skills and talents along the way.
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- Life on the Cheque Canada
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Six remarkable mothers who are living in poverty, their hopes for a better future for their children, their struggles to overcome the obstacles of poverty.
Forthcoming
- The Wunderkind Project United States, Jamaica, and Ethiopia
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Mozart was a part of a traveling group of child prodigies at the age of six. Stevie Wonder was introduced to Ronnie White at the age of twelve...What do these musical child prodigies have in common? The answer is: opportunity.
This Month's Soulbird Profile
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June 2008
Elaine PowerRead the Profile -
"What motivates me? I think it is some combination of compassion and indignation; a sense that it is mostly luck that I am not in similar circumstances, and that we can and must do better as a society to look after each other."
Events
June 28 through August 3 CAMP UNITY
Erbil and Suleimaniya, Iraq
Soulbird is proudly sponsoring and producing Soulbird Ryan White's film about the 2008 Unity Academy: Camp Unity