Reflecting on the twenty years that have passed since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Carsey-Wolf Center presents Our River . . . Our Sky (2021), a stunning portrait of an Iraqi writer and her daughter navigating everyday life in Baghdad under the extraordinary conditions of occupation and the onset of civil war. Sara is a novelist, but no matter how hard she tries, she cannot write anymore. All over the city, people of different religions are being forced out of their homes, and neighborhoods are increasingly divided by concrete walls. At night, under curfew, residents remain trapped inside their houses. As her daughter sleeps fitfully against a muted background of mortars and gunfire, Sara scribbles numbers on scraps of paper and sticks them to a map of Baghdad hung on her wall. At least if she keeps track of the attacks, she can try to predict where the next one may happen. Our River . . . Our Sky weaves together the stories of intersecting lives within a single neighborhood to bring to light how a community finds its strength to live through the darkest of times.

After the screening, the Carsey-Wolf Center will present a pre-recorded Zoom discussion between director Maysoon Pachachi and moderator Mona Damluji (Film and Media Studies, UCSB).