Unpacking Bush League

The worst thing about finishing Bush League is knowing 98% of the footage will never be seen so over the next few weeks (months) I'll to pull out and post a few things that work independently. Below are three more songs from one of the church choirs in Zolokere. I posted one song from this group a few years ago and it got a really strong response, I just didn't have time to get these others sorted out, but here they are. In addition to the music, I got a kick out of the little boy in the pink shirt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3rrSOaYIqQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek8M3jLNO2s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJfEY7jOpjU

Marketing: A Totally Serious Film About Malawi

Let’s see, how can I explain this? Bush League is a totally serious film about Malawi but that doesn’t mean much to a lot of people and I understand why - it looks like a niche film. If you’re already passionate about Africa or soccer than you’re probably already game but how can I appeal to everyone else?

Since I’ve been relentlessly flogging those dearest to me with heavy subject matter for years now, I saw this problem of appeal as a chance to lighten up for a moment. So I started my first ad campaign as far away from the seriousness and integrity of Bush League as I could. In short – I’m ripping off old movies that share nothing in common with my work and co-opting the imagery toward my own ham fisted ends.

Here’s the first one. I hope to make a few more. The ad is totally ridiculous but Bush League will remain a totally serious film about Malawi that I hope you’ll watch. Enjoy:

http://vimeo.com/14498392

Welcome back

Hi everyone, welcome back to cysfilm. It’s alive! Kind of! I took a big break from the blog to finish editing Bush League and to think about how I can be better at all of this. To start with, I wanted to redesign the site so it looked a little more professional but also so it could support more. Many thanks to my fellow CalArtian Stephanie Chen for the clean new design and to Jay Tillery who is programming it.

The site should be finished in the coming weeks so please come back soon for updates on Bush League and Indentured, which both premiere this October. Beyond that, I’m going to try and be a better blogger by being more concise and reaching out to interview other filmmakers and tell stories other than my own. Please don’t ever hesitate to contact me if there is something you’d like more or less of. I realize my name is on the front door but I’d like everyone to feel at home here.

Thanks again, Cy

Taking a Break

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/3639923225/ This is a photo I took on my last flight out of Iraq. I'm still so tired it's scary. I've never felt like this before, I can sleep and sleep and sleep.

I'm going to lay off the blog for a while. I need to rest and concentrate on Bush League. See you soon.

Home

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/3741410725/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/3742204528/

Back in the U.S. now. Feels great to be home. The trip to Israel was great. I managed to find two survivors from Kupiskis who I interviewed. The stories are powerful.

These photos are from Masada. That's Israeli filmmaker Yaniv Berman and his little brother on the trail.

Drinking the Tigris: Last Drink

last morning in Iraq http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/4977748771/

Iraq is behind me for good. I flew out to Jordan then traveled by taxi to the Israeli border and then caught a ride down to Tel Aviv. It feels wonderful to know it's behind me. I'm staying in Israel for two weeks relaxing but also to interview anyone I can find from the Litvak community. In 2005 I started shooting a doc in Lithuania about the Jewish holocaust there. Like Bush League, I want to do a village level survey of what happened. I'm trying to find survivors from Kupiskis (where I worked as a Peace Corps volunteer) here in Israel. I got some numbers and contacts, we'll see what happens. Bush League is my real focus right now but I couldn't pass up the chance since I was so close to Israel.

Drinking the Tigris: Final Reminder

If I needed any reminders of why I'm leaving Iraq this Sunday, I got them this week. Two nights ago our area was hit with a rocket; big one that landed somewhere just outside the base parameter. It's been more than six months since we had incoming. Took me a second to register it, then bail for the shelter. It was only one shot, but a thumper. Tonight is a bad dust storm. Kind of a mix really. A tiny bit of rain mixed with fog and loads of dust. With these storms comes gooey eyeballs, allergies, headaches, and massive delays and cancellations of flights, so the whole rhythm of the air port goes to pot. It's a great time to get out.

Drinking the Tigris: Local Music

Sometimes the only thing I can do to remind myself that I'm in Iraq is turn on the radio. I'm buried deep inside a military complex outside the city. I could be anywhere. The only thing that makes it through to me are the radio stations. Here's a link to an Iraqi hit song posted by the NY Times Baghdad Bureau. The song is by Hussam al-Rassam. http://podcasts.nytimes.com/podcasts/2009/01/22/23rassam.mp3

The lyrics are:

"Hey brother hand me the Brno (Czech made rifle).

I want to fire some shots.

The eyes of my beloved have cast a spell on me.

I am on fire.

Her stare is more precise and lethal than the Brno.

Mr. GMC driver take me to Ramadi, my beloved is in Ramadi.

All men tumble to the wayside with a blink from her eyes.

When she stares at you it feels like being fired at with a machine gun.

You do not know where you are going to be hit.

She's lethal."

The GMC is a reference to the armored Suburbans which are a ubiquitous status symbol in Iraq.

The origional piece at NYTimes Baghdad Bureau:

http://baghdadbureau.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/suvs-and-shotguns/#

Drinking the Tigris: A New Day for America

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/3728292061/ I feel great. The sun is rising here in Iraq. In eight hours the sun will rise in D.C. and later today Obama will swear in.

George Bush's photo was still up as I entered the Air Force chow hall a few minutes ago. The two young Airmen that watch the entrance every morning are both happy about the political changes, but added a caveat. "There are so many problems he's going to have to deal with," they told me cautiously.

I, on the other hand, think we've already dealt with the biggest problem. His picture comes down tomorrow.

Drinking the Tigris: Coffee

10 weeks on the night shift now. I am wrapped in night. Crushed by 12 hours of fluorescent whitish - green hum 7 days a week. I am a mushroom. An owl. A dung beetle. A big bleary eyed night wrapped marsupial. I know the stars by heart and where they are at all hours. I know the moon's phase and I measure the weeks by it. I forage, growl, drag from the fridge to the phone to the door to the computer to my chair. When I drive I bounce my head on the headrest to stay awake like a fat baby in a high chair. I'm a wreck. The wind outside is always dead except for the cutting vibrations of helicopters when they land. Even after they're gone, there's a constant low frequency vibration in my head and in my hands that I understand to be a call for coffee - I throb for caffeine at all times. I want to take my bones out of my arms, unscrew the caps on the ends and fill them up with the milky heat then shake them like martinis. I'm am a slogging sack of night worms, wanting for light and slow sandy heat. But for now, all I've got is a Styrofoam cup of coffee, twice per night.

I need to go home now.

Drinking the Tigris: Indentured Servitude at BIAP

Finally!!! This is starting to get out or Iraq. My favorite CNN reporter, Michael Ware does a report on labor abuse committed by KBR and their subcontractors in Baghdad, specifically in the airport area where I live. This is something I've been pressing people about for a year and a half. FBI, Border Patrol, State Dept, nobody is willing to take a stand on this. Meanwhile thousands of migrant laborers, almost all from S.Asia are living without full civil rights, no labor protections, and arguably - in debt bondage. All those jobs soldiers used to do: laundry, cooking, construction, water management, trash removal, in this neo-con war is being done with cheap labor out of S.Asia. The guys who work in our cafeteria make between one and two dollars and hour. They work seven days a week, 12 hours a day. In a month they make less than 700 dollars and they have to PAY to get the jobs. Keep in mind, these guys are working INSIDE American bases. These are the guys who put the food on the soldiers plate. How much did they pay to get here? Most have paid labor brokers between three and five thousand dollars. They sell their family farms or take loans from loan sharks in their home countries at usary interest rates. THIS IS INDENTURED SERVITUDE. WRITE YOUR CONGRESSPERSON(S). This is not my America, but this is all in our names.

Bush League: New Shots from Malawi - Vmbuza

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/3013532141/ Vmbuza is a healing dance. It happens at the traditional healer's compound once a week, usually on a Friday night and lasts all night.

The women play a rhythm with wooden sticks. A couple guys play a second rhythm with hand drums. It's LOUD and it's POWERFUL. The traditional healer led the songs, which I think are partly or wholly improvised and can last 15 or 20 minutes.

The patients dance until they can't dance any more. I have no doubt that it makes people feel better. It makes me feel better every time I go!

Drinking the Tigris: Relief!

What an astonishing moment in our history. From my perspective here in Iraq, while I love the message of hope and I believe in that whole heartedly, mostly I feel relief. Ethan Bronner wrote this in the NY Times from Palestine. It sums it up for me: "But wonder is almost overwhelmed by relief. Mr. Obama's election offers most non-Americans a sense that the imperial power capable of doing such good and such harm - a country that, they complain, preached justice but tortured its captives, launched a disastrous war in Iraq, turned its back on the environment and greedily dragged the world into economic chaos - saw the errors of its ways over the past eight years and shifted course."

Drinking the Tigris: The World is Watching

Just back from Malawi yesterday. A lot to report from there, but on the eve of the election, I want to share this instead: From the Economist:

http://www.economist.com/vote2008/index.cfm

The whole world is holding its breath!!!

Bush League: Shooting THE END

I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I start the trip back to Malawi tomorrow. It'll take five days to get from Baghdad to the village. I'll have a full week to shoot the epilogue for Bush League then Jake and I will make our way to the south of the country. I'm really excited to see everybody and really hoping there isn't much bad news. Gama, the guy who took care of us in the village, died last autumn of HIV/AIDS. I'm a little worried about who else might be sick, or worse.

It's been two years since I started shooting the film. I don't know how much longer it will take, but I hope it doesn't end too soon. I love that place and I've learned a great deal from its people.

Drinking the TIgris: New Shots from Baghdad

Some new shots from Baghdad. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/3671172034/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/2911981311/

This, for me, is the untold story of this war. All the labor; cleaning, cooking and washing is done by S. Asian laborers. Their pay is meager. The guys who clean at the Dining Facility work 12 hours per day seven days a week and make, in total, $350.00 per month. If Nike or Coca Cola made a fat profit off their backs the way KBR (Halliburton) does, people would be up in arms. But nobody knows about this, and it's happening at every base in Iraq. In our Dining Facility there are NO Americans serving food. Maybe one now and then. The staff is well over 25 guys per shift and they serve thousands of meals per day. They clean the floors, take out the trash, pour the coffee, they work the registers at the PX, they do everything except fight.

The truth is, for many of these people it's a great opportunity but what I wonder about are their labor rights and how many of them are indentured servants.

Drinking the Tigris: Sandstorm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/4977627349/ taken Sept, 2008 at 3pm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/2845752577/

the next morning

Sandstorms here aren't like the ones in movies. The wind doesn't pick the desert floor up to snap it out like a bull whip. It's more like a surprise sneeze. A gust and a squint of the eyes. A diffused red wall rolls in like fog. Then the wait. How long it will take for the billions and trillions of tiny particles, finer than talcum, to find a gentle landing? Last year they only lasted a day. This year, because of the drought in Iraq, they last for days. It sticks to the TV. It fills nostrils and sinus cavities. It fills the windshield wipers. It fills the carpet, and turns the floor of the shower red. It lies across the bed waiting, suppressing its sly joy before it crawls up on your tired face and covers your skin. Finally, it creeps into your consciousness where it smoothers your patience and dries up your imagination. It's in everything. It's everywhere. It creeps and curls and corkscrews and connives its way into every crack and seam in life. It turns the world red.