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kirk-225
Reviews
American Herro (2009)
Netflix and PBS
Thanks for the reviews guys! Very nice of you. I know 2 of you for sure.
As the director of this documentary it was very important for me to reflect well on the story of the Mustafa family, while also giving enough background and history as I could, on the Kurdish people. The toughest challenge in that, is to tell an objective and uplifting story, without crossing over into something I would've considered more run of the mill, and canned. At the end of the day, I chose to focus on the positive, while as creatively as I could, weave in a spiritual journey with music, poetry and stock footage.
Recently at a film festival in London a great question was posed about Kissinger's involvement in the Iraqi conflict dating back to the 70's, that inevitably affected the Kurds, and I thought it was a good point...the documentary could have gone that route. Still, I thought about that, and it occurred to me, those type of points are what I might have done in a documentary about Kurdish history, and though I often wanted to touch on the "war" of current, and the path leading to it, it's just not what I set out to do. When I originally decided to pursue this story, I wanted to paint a portrait of a true American Hero, and to show the human struggle, back story and plight of those we look up to with such honor. Plus, I wanted to share a story of my friend, Herro, whose family has lived inspiring lives! I have really enjoyed the travel, friends and wonderful experiences in producing and promoting American Herro, and hope you'll consider renting, purchasing or watching the program (on PBS) in the near future.
Thanks, Kirk Roos