"I Wanted To Go Deeper Than Just a Portrait of a Band”: Rita Baghdadi on her Sundance-Premiering doc Sirens

Trying to make it as a twenty-something in a band is hard enough. But when that band is Slave to Sirens, the Middle East’s first all-female metal group, the stakes and the obstacles can seem off the charts. Which is exactly what makes Moroccan-American director and cinematographer Rita Baghdadi’s Sirens, world-premiering in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at this year’s Sundance, so engrossing. The film focuses on the band’s co-founders and guitarists Lilas and Shery, who over the course of a brisk 78 minutes navigate friendship and sexuality, artistic vision and international fame – all within the explosive confines of Lebanon’s often misogynistic and homophobic society. (And then the Port of Beirut literally blows up.) Luckily, Filmmaker got the chance to catch up with Baghdadi (My Country No More) just prior to the doc’s January 23rd debut to learn all about Sirens and Slave to Sirens – and creating an environment in which Arab women can become the stars of their own true stories.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.