Synopsis

Shadow of Paradise is comprised of photographs and hand-painted 35mm film depicting my family who are alive, dead, or missing in Iraq. As an Iraqi immigrant displaced, and living in the United States, this film is dear to my heart as I come to terms with the country I grew up in being slowly eroded and redacted from history. I have constructed Shadow of Paradise as a memento mori that captures the obscured image of my fading memories of loved ones, who are left with an uncertain and unstable future in Iraq. Now, thirty years after Operation Desert Storm, this film is at once a snapshot of past, present and future destruction.

Thomas Helman

Thomas Helman is a New York-based filmmaker, visual effects artist, sound designer and software developer who has exhibited internationally. His current work focuses primarily on the development of immersive 3D environments through non-traditional use of artificial intelligence software, (dis)embodiment, experimental image rendering, and spatial audio.

Sahar al-Sawaf

Sahar al-Sawaf is an Iraqi filmmaker who was born in Saudi Arabia, grew up in Lebanon and Iraq, then escaped to California as a child, days before the Gulf War. Working in documentary and animation, she has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East with her sketchbook and camera in hand, chronicling the plight of refugees who have fled. Based in New York, she is presently directing her first animated feature film called Tigris.