PULLED FROM THE RUBBLE

Gil Loescher, for 25 years a professor at Notre Dame and a specialist on refugees, took his first trip to Iraq to visit UN headquarters with his friend and colleague at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Arthur Hilton. Loescher intended not to be an armchair academic, but to get out in the field and experience the human cost of the war. On August 19, 2003, just as the two men were sitting down with several others for a meeting with Sergio Vieira de Mello, head of the UN mission in Iraq, the building was bombed by a truck loaded with explosives. Twenty-two people died and over 100 were injured. Everyone in de Mello's office died except Loescher. He was pulled from the wreckage several hours later, surviving only because of the angle at which his body lay. Both of his legs were amputated at a military hospital in Germany.

Film has always been a part of the Loescher family's life. They document everything. Director Margaret Loescher, Gil's daughter, tells the story of her father's survival against all medical odds. His family was not sure how he would cope with the loss of his legs, as Gil had been a very active outdoorsman and basketball player. The film is a very intimate look at what it takes to start over and view life differently every step of the way. It is a testament to the love of a family and the filmmaker's innate ability to know when to keep shooting and when to put the camera down.

Amy King

Margaret Loescher was trained as an anthropologist and received her MA from the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, Manchester University. Since then, she has trained in the Advanced Programme at the National Film and Television School, U.K. Her previous films include PIECE OF ME, a documentary about the novelist Zadie Smith, and A CAMERA AT THE ADDY, a short documentary about an inner city playground. Loescher is now making a documentary about the American poet (and Margaret's relative) William Carlos Williams.

Print Source:
Daniel Chalfen, Beguiled Eye Productions
2000 Alberta Ave, Suite 22
Venice, CA 90291
Tel: 310 8213838
Email: daniel@radicalmedia.tv

PRECEDED BY...PAUL'S BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE
Glenda Tobias
Australia, 2004, 12 minutes

Initially embarrassed by her ecologically-obsessed brother, whose odd behavior includes collecting rubbish and washing his clothes in public fountains, Glenda Tobias finally comes to terms with his eccentric ways.

Print Source:
Glenda Tobias
1 George Rd
Healesville, Victoria 3777
Australia
Tel: 0438828352
Email: geewizz3@fastmail.fm

Wednesday 6/15 at 2:30 p.m.
Thursday 6/16 at 7:45 p.m.

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