Museum of Exile: Assyrian youth in Chicago

I created the live-action visual effects for the film by taking clay sculptures, animating them, and overlaying them on top of the footage.

Museum of Exile: Assyrian Youth in Chicago is a 12-minute HD documentary film that tells the story of refugee teenagers from Iraq who go to Niles West High School in Skokie, and their field trip to the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago. Rediscovering their cultural heritage in the collection of Assyrian art at the museum, the refugee teenagers regain their pride and identity undermined during the Iraq War and throughout their exile from Jordan to America.

Dorothy Yalda, Khoshaba Haji, Ban Haji, Peter Iskander, Thomas Oshana, Daniela Dadesho, Sarkis Youssef, Nenif Lazar, Sandra Yaqw, Nahrain E. Misho

Director: Wonjung Bae

Cinematographers: Mike Stanislawski, Stephanie, Dufford, Mike Herrera, Charlie Anderson

Sound: Ami Salas

Animators: James Abrams, Joseph E. Merideth, Rein Stinson, Ryan Sneddon, Angel Onofre, America Salas, Cassie Soliday

Computer Graphics: Desiree Anne D. Agngarayngay

Sound Design: James Thompson, Veronica Morales

Music Composer: Luke Wieting

Cello: Christopher Saunders
Violin: Tom Spitz
Vocal: Meghan Thompson

Photography: Joanne Farchakh

Special Thanks:
Assyrian Civic Club, Joseph Tamraz,
Oriental Institute, Geoff Emberling,
Thomas R. James, Anuradha Rana, Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa, Wenhwa Ts'ao, Diego Trejo (Sound)
Animation Program (Columbia College Chicago)
Arlen Parsa, Halacy Kurenski, Robert Teetsov, Ninoos Bethishou, Justin Cyrul, Paul Evangelist

The film is made possible by the generous support of Columbia College Chicago Production Fund