Soon after the fall of Baghdad in 2003, a young and charismatic fi lm student, Muthana Mohmed, stands in the rubble of the city's film school and explains to an American television audience that his dream of becoming a fi lmmaker has been destroyed - first by Saddam Hussein, then by American bombs. Watching in the United States, and feeling guilty about a war he opposed, actor Liev Schreiber decides to extend to the unknown Iraqi the opportunity of a lifetime - to come to Prague to intern on an American movie. On set, frustrated expectations complicate the relationship between Muthana and his American benefactors in what becomes a cross-cultural endeavor gone startlingly awry.
Filmmaker Nina Davenport becomes increasingly entangled in the young Iraqi's life, as his visa nears expiration and the threat of returning to Baghdad looms.
Operation Filmmaker addresses the power dynamic between an American filmmaker and Iraqi subject, unfolding as an engaging parable about the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
The film was screened as a work-inprogress at the Rotterdam International Film Festival 2007 and won the prestigious Dutch Circle of Film Journalists KNF Award.
