Hayder Daffar

Hayder Daffar may still be a night clerk at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, but he's also the director behind the first Iraqi-made documentary out of post-Saddam Iraq. In "The Dreams of Sparrows," which is currently making the rounds at U.S. film festivals, the 33-year-old Daffar asks cabbies, elementary-school girls and even inhabitants of a local insane asylum the all-important question: are they better off under foreign occupation than they were with Saddam? NEWSWEEK's Lorraine Ali spoke with Daffar about the difficulties he had to overcome to make his moving film. Excerpts:

DAFFAR: I asked our teachers, "Where is the equipment?" and they said, "There is none because of sanctions." But I think it's because Saddam didn't care about colleges or filmmakers. He cared about missiles, bombs and making war.

Yes, there was a Swedish journalist who gave me a still camera, then I borrowed a moving camera from an Italian journalist for two days. An American producer for Al-Jazeera lent me a camera, too. They all let me keep the film. Then I met [American producer] Aaron Raskin, who gave me three cameras to start filming "Sparrows."

Yes, it was. But this scene is not for Iraqis, because we all know what's happening here. I put this scene of Saad in for other people to see what we are going through--what we are losing every day.

When people made me laugh, because everything in Iraq is so hard and so sad right now. I interviewed a drunk in the street. He had a bottle in his hand and he said, "In the past I couldn't drink in street, now I can. I am free, thanks to George Bush."

I needed to show the crazies, the kids, the homeless, the cabdriver, the fool, because this is life anywhere, in any country. Instead of focusing on the war, I wanted to show the effects of war. Sure, I could have shown where a missile hits a place and show that people were killed, but what about the people who are still alive? How are they living? I wanted it to be universal--like a book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I am Iraqi, I love his books. So do Americans. Why? Because he doesn't talk just about Colombians, he talks about people.

My whole mission in Fallujah was very hard. Every time I picked up a camera, they thought I was a spy. But a friend of mine lived there, and he rode me around on his motorcycle, and introduced me to so many people. That really helped. But in Baghdad, after I explained what I was doing, people said, "Finally! We welcome this, a film about our lives, our situation. We will help you."

They say, "I have never seen this footage before or really heard what the regular people have to say." They ask, "How can we help the Iraqis?" One woman gave me $10. I said, "Just put your hearts with us, that's all we need." None of us made the decision to go to war--our governments did.

Yes, every week I'd go to the cinema. Some times I'd even escape from school to see "The Godfather" one more time. Later I liked "Braveheart" because it's about freedom. The king shot at the enemy and his own troops at the same time--he didn't even care if he killed his own people. It made me hate him. It was like life in Iraq. But the people rose up, and there was freedom.

Yes [ laughs ]. I even used to dream that I'm at the Oscars, wearing that black costume.

Yes, with a small tie. How do you call it? Yes, a bow tie, and I pick up this small statue, Oscar.

Now that some Americans have watched my movie, they say, "Congratulations, it's very good." I think it's not a miracle anymore, to pick up an Oscar. Maybe it could happen, but I need this black costume first, this one you call a tuxedo.