“This is Fucking Bullshit.”
An American man fighting with the YPG in Syria is seeing his story hit the big screen— but he wasn’t asked for his approval before the…
An American man fighting with the YPG in Syria is seeing his story hit the big screen— but he wasn’t asked for his approval before the film’s production was announced.
“Rasid Fuad,” or @PissPigGranddad, has been fighting with the Kurdish communist forces since last fall. He joined because of his devotion to their cause, as he told me in February.
“The YPG are a socialist force aimed to establish democratic confederalism,” Fuad explained. “I joined them because of course I am a Communist, and thus an internationalist.”
On Thursday evening, a number of media outlets reported that actor Jake Gyllenhaal’s production company “Nine Stories” would be bringing Fuad’s story to cinemas. Daniel Espinosa will direct. It will mark the second feature for the two, who worked together in the sci-fi horror film “Life,” which opens this weekend.
The film’s story is based on a Rolling Stone piece by Seth Harp, “The Anarchists Versus the Islamic State.”
Fuad found out about the news shortly before midnight on the East Coast.
And the film’s synopsis is inaccurate.
The Rolling Stone article, written by Seth Harp, tells the true story of a ragtag team of American volunteers, socialists and outcasts who are fighting alongside the Kurdish militia known as the YPG to beat ISIS in Syria and establish an anarchist collective amid the rubble of war.
“Thematically, we’re often attracted to material about the search for identity, especially in a world where it’s become easier to feel less and less connected,” said [Riva] Marker in a statement. “Seth’s story is about people who abandon everything that’s familiar as a means to connect in the most brutal of circumstances.”
Fuad and his comrades are communists, not anarchists.
I reached out to Nine Stories earlier this evening for an unrelated comment about the film but haven’t heard back. When I do, I’ll update.
In the meantime, let’s hope Hollywood hasn’t succeeded where Fuad’s Twitter foes have failed.
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