Wednesday, January 31, 7:00 p.m., Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown, 4th and Colorado.

Third Coast Film Night at Alamo Drafthouse, “Little Birds” with director Watai Takeharu

After the U.S. ground forces entered Baghdad in April 2003, Japanese director Watai Takeharu remained in Iraq to continue shooting portraits of Iraqi citizens in the war-ravaged country. In Baghdad, Samawa, Falluja, and at Abu Ghraib, Watai listened to the voices of the Iraqi people, and succeeded in catching glimpses of the truth about the Iraq War rarely found in the mainstream media. From over 123 hours of footage from his one-and-a-half-year-long research in Iraq, he made this grim, eye-opening film: Little Birds.

Reviewing the film on ElectronicIraq.net, Gregory Elich writes: “American documentaries tend to be more interested in telling us about Americans in Iraq and informing us of what we already know. Watai, however, has a more empathetic approach, forcing us to acknowledge what the war has done to the Iraqi people. As a result, we discover far more about the war and the disaster it has wrought on the society. The filmmaker had confidence enough in his material to forgo music and narration, and indeed, none was needed. Little Birds is a film of such power that it leaves its audience speechless at the end.”

Director Watai Takeharu will be at the film screening and take questions from the audience afterward.

Tickets – $7 general / $5.50 student, senior – are available at the event or online at drafthouse.com.