Jameil Al-Oboudi remembers Baghdad as a lively place in the 1950s and 60s: before the Baath Party consolidated its power, actors would often come to his parents’ house to rehearse for his father’s university and Free Theater Group productions, and “any night you could go to the symphony or see a ballet or go to the parks….Rarely would you see a woman in veils.” Now 51 and living in Hyde Park, Al-Oboudi has tapped into his memories of life in Iraq to produce his first feature, Yousif–a lyrical film that follows the daily life of a 60-something Iraqi torture survivor and painter in Chicago.
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Al-Oboudi’s parents met in 1948 as students at the Goodman Theatre School, at the time part of the School of the Art Institute. His father, an Iraqi here on a scholarship from King Faisal II, married his mother, an Irish Catholic from Park Ridge, a couple of years later, and Al-Oboudi was born in Evanston in 1952. The following year the family moved to Baghdad, where his father went on to become a well-known stage actor and director and found that city’s Academy of Fine Arts.
Isolation is one of the themes he explores in Yousif. A Christian, the title character lives in Pilsen above an Iraqi Kurd who plays his music too loud, acts as mentor to a Cuban woman from the restaurant where he works, and writes letters to his wife and daughter in Iraq. The tale is told mostly through stunningly beautiful visuals with voice-overs–which made it easier for Al-Oboudi to work with his cast of novice actors, including his family, friends, and local refugees from the gulf war.
Yousif will have its world premiere at 7:30 PM Saturday, November 29, as part of the Gene Siskel Film Center’s “Arab Heritage Month” series; Al-Oboudi and members of the cast will be on hand. The theater is at 164 N. State, and tickets are $8; call 312-846-2800 or see www.siskelfilmcenter.org for more information.
