ISAW Partners with "Letters From Baghdad"

ISAW is excited to be included as an institutional partner on the documentary film project Letters From Baghdad. With Tilda Swinton as the voice of Gertrude Bell, the film follows the life and work of Gertrude Bell, who travelled the Middle East documenting and eventually helping to establish the modern state of Iran. Among her accomplishments, she created the Iraq Museum to preserve the priceless cultural artifacts and antiquities of the region. She also photographed many ancient heritage sites, including Palmyra, Nineveh, and Nimrud, which would later be destroyed by ISIL. Using stunning, never-seen-before footage of the region from 100 years ago, and more than 1600 letters written by Bell and her contemporaries, the film chronicles Bell’s extraordinary journey into both the uncharted Arabian desert and the inner sanctum of British male colonial power. 

The film opens theatrically in New York at Lincoln Plaza and the Angelika Film Center on June 2, 2017.