By MICHELLE PASTER, Daily News Managing Editor

In OPERATION FILMMAKER, the endurance test of documentary filmmaking is compounded by a cross-cultural story that takes place on the set.

Director Nina Davenport and producer David Schisgall, bring light to a unique situation that originated from an MTV episode of "True Life: I'm Living in Iraq."

The film follows the real-life story of what happened when actor-director Liev Schreiber invited a 25 year-old Iraqi film student to work on the set of Everything Is Illuminated in Prague. It asks the question: How much are you supposed to help someone before they're expected to help themselves? And the film also addresses the moral obligation of giving an opportunity to somebody who's living through a war initiated by your own country, and the cultural clashes that inevitably occur.

The relationship between Muthana Mohmed, a Shi'ia film student from Baghdad, and Schreiber's American producers reveals conflict and drama that turned into a 3-year film project for Davenport.

When Schisgall contacted Davenport about Schreiber's idea to document the result of his invitation to Muthana, the filmmaker says, "I thought I was just filming Muthana for five days for David - just to investigate if there might be a film there, figuring it probably wouldn't be that interesting."

"But when I saw the conflict developing between the Iraqi intern and the American producers, I realized the story would in fact be dramatic, and relevant, so I stuck with it," continues Davenport.

The film chronicles Muthana's first time outside of Iraq and displays the warfare in his hometown, including the bombing of his film school, where film reels were destroyed. He arrives on set, first reunites with the man who filmed his MTV appearance, and opens himself up to an experience many American film students would give up their livelihood for.

As far as the filmmaking goes, Davenport's background includes undergraduate filmmaking at Harvard College and a personal film, Always a Bridesmaid (2000), so she has had experience making herself into a character in her films.

However, Davenport says, "I didn't expect that to be the case with this film, but when Muthana began asking me for help, even demanding my help, I was drawn ineluctably into the film itself." She also sent film cameras to Muthansa's friends in the film school to show him what life is like without him there.

During the time it took to produce the documentary, the livework- art balance for Davenport was purely focused on the film set. She explains, "I wasn't able to take many other jobs during this project because at any point, I might have to rush off to Prague to film something important."

The fund-raising process for the film took awhile which is typical. ITVS (for PBS) was a premiere funder, in addition to funding from Australia, England and other countries. Davenport continues, "I think I've cut about 25 different trailers for the movie in the fundraising process!"