When director McAllister went to Iraq to shoot a documentary for the BBC, he didn't have any particular subject in mind. But, sitting in his hotel bar, he came across Samir Peter, Iraq's preeminent concert pianist in pre-Sadaam Iraq. Now, sleeping in a windowless hotel room and playing out his nights to half-empty lounges, Peter seems a world away from the fame and fortune he once enjoyed. Peter's larger-than-life personality and fatalistic yet optimistic worldview lure us into rooting for his dreams, which include moving to America, the country his daughter and many other Iraqis blame for the instability and fear they face daily. Through eight months of shooting, with bullets flying and ballads flowing, filmmaker and subject attempt to navigate the nuances of the new Iraq.

[ close this window ]