Tuesday, September 4, 2007
"Little Birds" will be screened in San Francisco, US.
http://japansocietyofnortherncalifornia.myshopify.com/products/in-search-of-peace-the-peace-movement-in-japan-and-the-us

From May 17th-20th, 2007 the Little Rock Film Festival was held in Arkansas, US.
http://www.littlerockfilmfestival.org/Main_Page.html

Please see below for the festival's "Little Birds" screening information:
http://littlerock.bside.com/?_view=_filmdetails&filmId=19427219

Director Watai also spoke at the symposium, "Filming Iraq" featuring film and television directors of documentaries on Iraq.
http://littlerock.bside.com/?_view=_filmdetails&filmId=19409759

**"Little Birds" won the Best Documentary Award at this festival!**
http://www.littlerockfilmfestival.org/Main_Page.html

Past SCREENING & LECTURE SCHEDULE in the U.S (Jan 25 to Feb 9, 2007)
”How do I purchase a DVD of gLittle Birdsh?
After the U.S. armed forces entered Iraq in April 2003, 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 that mainstream media have failed to capture. From the footage of over 123 hours which resulted from his one-and-a-half-year-long research in Iraq, a film has now been competed.

March 2003, before air-raids started, life in Baghdad was graced with the smiling faces and laughter of children.
Soon, the bombings started and have resulted in many deaths and injuries. Takeharu Watai, the director was there when the U.S. Army entered Baghdad, and witnessed a woman standing in front of a U.S. tank and shouting, "How many children have you killed? Go to the hospital and see the people dying!"
At these words, Wata visited Thawra Hospital in Baghdad. There in the middle of the tragic mess, he met Ali Saqban, 32, whose daughter was dying. Saqban lost two elder brothers during the Iran-Iraq War, and was himself injured during the Kuwait invasion. Now he has lost three of his children by the U.S. entry into Iraq. "I don't think people were created to kill people," he says as he kneels in front of his children's graves.
Hadeel, 12, lost her right eye by the cluster bomb, an inhuman weapon used by the U.S.A, and Ahmad his right hand. By showing these families who are torn apart and hurt by the war, Watai questions the audiences in Japan and in the world as to the "significance" of the war.

Watai Takeharu was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971. He started working as a journalist in 1997, and, since 1998, has worked with Asia Press International, a news agency consisting of a group of independent video journalists, He has worked in many places and on many issues including Sri Lankan civil war, Sudanese famine, East Timor and the Aceh's struggle for independence, the religious strife in Indonesia's Maluku, and in Afghanistan, etc. after the simultaneous multiple terrorist attacks in the U.S.A. In 2003, he sent video reports and messages, and appeared in live broadcasts from air-raided Baghdad for various TV shows including "News Station" (TV Asahi) and "Chikushi Tetsuya's News 23" (TBS), etc. For his reporting activities, Watai received the 2003 Vaughn-Ueda Awards Special Prize and the 41st Galaxy Awards Excellent Reporting Prize.

"Little Birds: A devastating window on the war"
Gregory Elich, Electronic Iraq, 29 August 2006
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2466.shtml

Midnight Eye Review by Jasper Sharp gLittle Birdsh Jan 22, 2006
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/little-birds.shtml

"Documenting hell on Earth: At a theater near you"
Philip Brasor The Japan Times Online, April 24, 2005
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fd20050424pb.htm

"Don't cry, Daddy, we've become birds in heaven." | Watai Takeharu's Little Birds
Kyoto Journal
http://www.kyotojournal.org/10,000things/080.html

"Japanese journalist's movie on Iraq war screened in U.S."
By Keiji Hirano, The Japan Times, February 22, 2007
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=64269

An article on "Little Birds" US screenings has been published on "The Japan Times." (Feb. 22, 2007) Viewing is free of charge for a limited time.
"Japanese Journalist's Movie on Iraq War Screened in U.S."
Written by Keiji Hirano (Kyodo News)




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