Marwa (Iraq/US) subtitled
DIRECTOR: Iram Parveen Bilal
PRODUCER: Tahirah Gooden
SCREENWRITER: Jason Delmarty
SCHOOL: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA90089
CAST: David Mersault, Natalya Oliver, Karl Mann
SYNOPSIS: Inspired by a true story, “Marwa” is a romantic drama showcasing the struggle between love, loyalty, tradition and patriotism of Marwa, an Arabic interpretor, when she discovers the depth of her romantic connection with Devin, an American soldier commissioned to rebuild Iraq after the 2003 American invasion.

Director’s Bio: Iram Parveen Bilal was raised in Nigeria and Pakistan. She left Islamabad, her home town, at the age of seventeen to head to Caltech in Pasadena for attaining a Bachelor in Environmental Science Engineering. Upon completing her B.S. in 2004, she was recipient of the Thomas J. Watson fellowship which she used to travel to India, Tanzania and Ireland filming a documentary exploring a proposed connection between body movement and spirituality. During her travels, she reconfirmed her childhood desire of being connected to entertainment and, just by the way, applied to USC’S film school. Apparently they were in need of engineers as Bilal was accepted! She just receive her MFA in May 2007 and is currently working on promoting “Marwa”, the product of a scholarship received in 2006 from the Peter Stark Producing Program and Bilal’s directorial debut. Bilal is interested in directing and writing fiction, documentary, short and long form media and plans to travel back and forth for projects in Los Angeles and South Asia. As a Pakistani woman, Bilal is conscious of the rare opportunity and voice she has on the filmmaking playground today and is determined to make the best of it for peace, tolerance and understanding in today’s exceedingly polarized world.

Director’s Statement: Inspired by a true story, "Marwa" is a romantic drama showcasing the struggle between love, loyalty, tradition and patriotism. It is the story of an Arabic interpreter, who falls in love with Devin, an American soldier commissioned to rebuild Iraq after the 2003 American invasion. Marwa is a commentary on the cultural and socio-political impact of war.

My objective with "Marwa" was, firstly, to relay a touching true story. Secondly, I desired to capture the futility of war in all societies, peoples and cultures. Finally and most importantly, it was a chance to create a window into an Iraqi household and show the universality of family, love and instincts to emphasize the human connection which is sadly being ignored in today's "right-wrong" conflicts around the world. We are all the same!