Calling on Muha Nad Rasheed

The first film I have seen by Muha Nad was ‘Come closer, it will be warmer’, which depicts the predicament of small birds drawn to a chimney, who eventually get stuck inside and die. On screen, we follow a couple who are building a solution to help the birds.
Muha Nad is a friend of mine, and I got in touch needing his help with taking photos but he was busy writing the score for another of his short films, ‘Like a child in front of the mirror’. We decided to meet, for me to witness his process and discuss his practice.

When I first met you, you introduced me to your love of contemporary dance. Can you tell me who you are and what current projects you’re involved with?
I have been obsessed with creativity since I was a kid. I grew up in Baghdad around artists, poets, filmmakers, theatre-makers, etc. From an early age, I found out that I liked to express myself in different forms of art. Yes, I have more than a decade of experience as a professional dancer/choreographer, but along the way I have always been making paintings, playing and composing music, writing and making videos. I’m currently focusing on filmmaking, on the post-production of a short fictional film and a short documentary, that I both shot in the Netherlands. I’m also writing/developing my first feature film which will be shot in Baghdad, hopefully within the coming two years.

Your work revolves a lot around consciousness and perceptions of the world in a philosophical way. Sometimes, those perceptions are also deeply political, recalling revolutionary movements. How do you find yourself staying politically relevant with what’s happening in Iraq while producing films here?
Aside from politics and cultural differences, to me, the contemporary human consciousness is an interesting subject to discuss in films. My short film, ‘Like a child in front of the mirror’, tackles our perception of our existence in this universe. The film isn’t ready yet but hopefully it will be released by the end of this year.

I’m actually not trying to stay politically relevant at all. Two years ago, I made a short experimental film, ‘Peaceful’, about the Iraqi revolution. That work was filmed in Amsterdam but it’s so much about the human injustice that we actually see happening as well in many other cities. The necessity of making ‘Peaceful’ wasn’t to deliver a certain political statement but rather to amplify the voice of the protesters.

How do you reconcile you life here with your images and inspirations there?
The distance between Amsterdam and Baghdad isn’t there anymore. Probably I wouldn’t say that if I was born in the last century.
Nonetheless, I love my life here and I’ll probably always come back, even if I live somewhere else temporarily to work. At the same time, Baghdad is still my city, although it changed a lot in the last decade. My mother, good friends and the memory of my childhood live there. I have actually visited Baghdad last year after 16 years of being away and I had a lovely experience with my family and my old friends. People in Iraq are so warm regardless of the political/social mess they’re experiencing.

I perceive your dance background in the choreography of characters and frames. I have seen some of your movies involving props made by painters friends, costumes from actors’ daily lives and music you composed yourself. Would you say that film has you working towards some idea of total art?
I’m afraid to call it total art but yes, what fascinates me is that within the form of cinema, painting, music, poetry and so on are expressed together in a great deal. It’s sort of magical when all these forms come together to serve one cinematic narrative. It is generally interesting when different forms of art integrate with each other. Like how the modern television series, for instance, became strong. To some philosophers, TV drama is considered as a weak form of cinema, but not anymore I guess.

Regarding my own work, I definitely have the privilege of being a dancer, choreographer, painter, musician, writer and a filmmaker at the same time. I would actually like to be a scientist as well if I had more time.

You’ve recently founded Hexatonic Production with your brothers. How do you collaborate?
Hexatonic Production is registered in the Netherlands but it’s a collaboration between two brothers: Osama Rasheed who lives in Vienna and myself, here. My other brothers have another film production company and we usually work together; depends on the project of course. Our collaboration is based on our understanding of each other and our desire to create beauty together. Fortunately, the world became a small village where geographic distance isn’t a problem anymore.

What can we expect to see in the future?
Honest works of art that comes from a deep place.