Waleed and Hannah Hamza

The Hamzas brought a huge folder of outlines and drafts to our first meeting, having spent many months trying to find the best way to tell this remarkable story. We completed the first draft in just four months. In Occupied, you’ll watch the bombing of Baghdad from the roof of Waleed’s family home, follow him as he becomes a field translator to US forces, then see him and friends branded traitors and picked off by Iraqi insurgents. More than a military story, Occupied describes Waleed’s profound battle to find peace in his heart, so long occupied by conflict and danger.