Kickstarter Launch for the Intrepid Gertrude Bell during Women’s History Month

New York, USA – March 2014 – Letters from Baghdad, the first full length documentary about the extraordinary Gertrude Bell, launched a Kickstarter campaign during Women’s History Month to highlight Bell’s significant role in the shaping of the modern Middle East. The film, made by directors Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl, uses stunning, never-seen-before footage of Iraq, Egypt and Syria from the early 1900s to tell the dramatic and thought-provoking story of British-born Gertrude Bell, often referred to as the female Lawrence of Arabia. An adventurer, spy, archaeologist and powerful political force, she travelled into the uncharted Arabian desert and was recruited by British Military Intelligence in Cairo during World War I.

“Our film could not be more timely, in light of the ongoing Arab Spring and at the 100th anniversary of WWI, when the world is reexamining the impact of colonialism and ongoing Western policies and interventions in the region.”

Why haven’t we heard about the woman who drew the borders of Iraq, helped install its first king and established the Baghdad Museum of Antiquities which was infamously looted during the 2003 American invasion? A recent biography on T.E. Lawrence doesn’t mention her name once, not even in a footnote. In the 1996 Academy award winning film, The English Patient, one of the characters mentions the “Bell Maps”, but goes on to refer to Bell as a man. General Gilbert Clayton, Lawrence’s direct supervisor, credited Bell’s maps and tribal notes with the success of the Arab revolt that made Lawrence famous.

Letters From Baghdad follows Gertrude Bell’s unprecedented rise within the all-male ranks of British Military Intelligence to the inner sanctum of power and will shine a light on the tangled history of Iraq through a remarkable personal narrative. A true visionary, Gertrude Bell advocated for Iraqi self-rule and openly criticized colonial policy. Yet, she was as ill-fated in love as she was gifted in politics, and her personal life was scarred by tragedy. The circumstances of her death by an overdose of sleeping pills at age 58 remain a mystery.

Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl founded Between the Rivers Productions LLC to produce character driven documentary films that explore extraordinary individuals through the intersection of history, culture and film. Oelbaum and Krayenbühl worked together for the first time on a film about another extraordinary woman, journalist Ruth Gruber, AHEAD OF TIME. Krayenbühl is an award winning editor who edited over 20 feature documentaries including Academy award-nominated MY ARCHITECT, MAD HOT BALLROOM, and MY REINCARNATION. Oelbaum produced, AHEAD OF TIME which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, was broadcast on Showtime Channel and won 5 Best Documentary awards. Oelbaum came to film from a career in still photography which has been extensively published and exhibited. Their team includes several highly acclaimed filmmakers: 3 time Academy Award-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, award-winning documentary producer Nikki Parrot of Tiger Lily Films and British filmmaker and film historian and Academy Award recipient Kevin Brownlow. Letters from Baghad received a development grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in December 2013 and has support from partners throughout the world including:

American Center of Oriental Research
Amman, Jordan

British Institute for the Study of Iraq
London, UK

English Heritage
UK (National)

The Humpty Dumpty Institute
New York, USA

The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
New York, USA

Iraq National Library and Archive (INLA)
Baghdad, Iraq

The Museum of Islamic Art
Berlin, Germany

Gertrude Bell Archive, University of Newcastle
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

World Cinema Foundation
Geneva, Switzerland

Between The Rivers Productions LLC
609 Greenwich St.
6th Fl
New York, NY 10014