Director Bernard-Henri Lévy discusses his pair of documentaries PESHMERGA and THE BATTLE OF MOSUL, screening together theatrically at select Landmark Theatres, with Mitchell Landsberg (Senior Editor - LA Times).
This conversation was recorded at Landmark's NuArt Theatre on 1/17/20.
Peshmerga: In 2015, Bernard-Henri Lévy travelled to the front lines of ISIS, seeking first-hand understanding of the ongoing conflict. With unprecedented access and disarming immediacy, Lévy and a team of cameramen journey across the 650 miles separating Iraqi Kurdistan from Islamic troupes. In close quarters with the Peshmergas, the Kurdish fighters who show unfailing determination in their harrowing battle against Jihadi fundamentalism, the images captured provide an arresting perspective on a still-unfinished war with immense global implications.
The Battle of Mosul: Picking up where Peshmerga left off, the most recent of Bernard-Henri Lévy’s riveting cinematic dispatches begins on October 17, 2017, the first day of the battle to free Mosul from the Islamic State. The declared capital of ISIS and the burial place of the Prophet Jonah, the city of Mosul holds great significance Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike. Following both the Kurds and the Iraqi Golden Division Special Forces, Lévy and his team once again provide front row access at every step of the strategic battle culminating in the reclamation of the eastern half of the city.