[Reader-list] Documentary Filmmaker Needs Help

[Beaufort9films at aol.com]

Dear Friends,


As a documentary filmmaker in New York and a strong advocate for a peaceful 

solution to the conflict in Iraq, I have felt frustrated and astonished that 

our president has ignored, not only the 400,000 people like myself who 

protested the war in my city, but the millions of others who did so around 

the globe.


Having just finished a documentary about civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, 

who introduced Gandhi's method of civil disobedience to Martin Luther King, I 

have wondered what I could do as a filmmaker to stop the war in the short 

time left.  Most of my films  are humanitarian portraits of communities 
outside 

mainstream society, honoring the dignity and beauty of their daily life.  

Since the American media rarely, if ever, shows this aspect of the Iraqi 

people, I thought perhaps I could do so in the two weeks leading up to March 

15th, sending back to the mainstream networks and internet, a very different 

portrait of the Iraqi people than what gets reported.


My hope is to live with one extended family in Baghdad and chronicle their 

fears, joys, and concerns about living in a city threatened by the machinery 

of war.  As an American filmmaker I can't hope to ever capture the conscience 

of the Iraqi people, but I can remain a mindful and sensitive observer of the 

simplest aspects of daily life:  a father who takes three busses to work, his 

wife who shops in the market for the family, their kids who kick a ball 

outside school.  While capturing these details, I will ask them about their 

plans for the future, their aspirations for their children.  


It seems both a modest and ambitious goal, but one that could profoundly 

affect the harshest sentiments of the American people and its government.  To 

bomb an Iraqi family who the world sees, puts a face on this potential 

atrocity, and its the one thing I can do as a filmmaker to practice civil 

disobedience.


I can't, however, do it on my own.  I'm asking journalists, friends, and 

acquaintances if they know any family in Iraq who might allow me to spend 

time with them.  I would also need help navigating through Baghdad, and work 

with someone sympathetic to this cause.


Please feel free to contact me as soon as possible at this e-mail address, 

and thank you all for your time and thoughtful consideration to help stop 

this senseless war.


Warm regards,


David Petersen


________________________

DAVID PETERSEN

Biography



    David Petersen has had his films exhibited at numerous international 

museums and festivals, including The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris,  The 

Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Hirshhorn Museum, The National Callery 

of Art, the Museum of American History, and The Library of Congress. In 

addition, his work is in the permanent collection of several museums, 

including the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art and the 

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His recent ITVS documentary Let 

the Church Say Amen premiered at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum, 

and will air on PBS this fall.  He served as director, producer, and editor 

of the film Fine Food, Fine Pastries, Open 6 to 9, which was nominated for an 

Academy Award and received first place prizes in the American, National 

Educational, Houston International, Aspen, and Athens film festivals; and won 

an Emmy and CINE Golden Eagle award. He directed and produced the award 

winning documentary If You Lived Here You Would Be Home Now, a Spirit Award 

nominee, which premiered at The National Gallery of Art, and had its 

acclaimed broadcast on PBS. His short dramatic film Scenes, won a Rosebud 

Festival Award; and he produced for the Emmy award-winning PBS series Egg: 

the Arts Show and City Life. David Petersen has also served as a guest 

lecturer and instructor at the New York University, Hunter College, American 

University, Carnegie-Melon University; and St. Lawrence University in New 

York. 


            In the past, he has directed several films for the Smithsonian 

Institution and other  agencies, and has served as editor on documentaries 

for public television and theatrical release including Michael Moore’s Roger 

and Me;  the Sundance 2003 Selection Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard 

Rustin; City at Peace, the feature-length documentary, produced by Barbra 

Striesand; Family Man, a one hour PBS special on fatherhood which Mr. 

Petersen field directed; the internationally produced Minidragons series;The 

AIDS Quarterly, a WGBH series hosted by Peter Jennings; Loose Nukes and Back 

In the U.S.S.R, two documentaries for the PBS "Frontline" series; and on two 

films for the PBS "Smithsonian World" series, The Quantum Universe and The 

Doors of Perception. Mr. Petersen has been published in literary magazines in 

the United States and overseas, and has received numerous artist fellowships 

from The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, 

the Mexican Cultural Institute, and The Ragdale Foundation. In addition to 

awards won in film festivals, he received grants from the D.C. Community 

Humanities Council, The Cafritz Foundation, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, and four 

Individual Artist Grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and the 

National Endowment for the Arts.