Seattle filmmaker takes on drones in the Middle East

A short film called “From the Sky,” about drone strikes in Afghanistan, is opening Sunday at the Seattle International Film Festival’s Uptown Cinema.

The film was shot here in Washington, and writer and director Ian Ebright raised money for the project through a Kickstarter campaign.

Ebright sat down with KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross to discuss the film about a father and son living under the threat of drones in the Middle East.

He said the idea came to him when he was blogging on human rights and he kept seeing drone stories pop up in the media.

“As I continued blogging on topics, including human rights, I found myself developing sort of an unlikely heart for what I would consider the overreach of the war on terror, things from Iraq to Guantanamo to drones and things that just seemed to be existing with a lot of discussion but not much change in that trajectory.”

It was when he and his wife discovered they were expecting a son that the story for the film really started to form.

“It was having a son on the way and saying boy, I really want to explore what that would be like,” said Ebright. “So I sat down wondering if it were just me and my son living in this environment where you’ve got these things buzzing overhead, and the reporting says that civilian populations are traumatized. They have PTSD by the sheer sound of these things and not knowing where they’re going to strike next.”

Ebright launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter and raised over $19,000 for the project.

Ross notes Ebright’s choice of film topic is a point of pretty passionate discussion, and asks if he came out with a feeling about who is right and who is wrong in this situation.

“I’ll say for the film, we raise some difficult questions, and sort of leave those in the audience’s lap, I think,” said Ebright. “For me personally, I think there is a lot of blame to go around, and part of what the film is really speaking about is this endless cycle of retaliation.”

Ebright says everyone does what they do because they think it’s right, even the bad guys.

“It’s often about perspective and our sense of right and wrong is quickly challenged when we leave sort of our own angle and hear stories from outside of that,” said Ebright. “My greatest hope for the film is not that we draw easy answers for folks, but invite them into a story that is unlike what they’re used to – that we might better understand this two-sided conflict that never seems to end.”

“From the Sky” plays at SIFF Sunday, May 25 at 11 a.m.