Filming another side of the story

Filmmaker and Army veteran Kyle Hartnett stopped in Olympia last week as he documents the experiences of American Muslims in the military.

Hartnett, 28, was in town to film an interview with James Yee, the former Muslim Army chaplain who lives in Olympia, for his documentary short.

Hartnett, who served in the Army from 2000 to 2003 and deployed to Afghanistan for six months, is one of five recent veterans hired to direct and produce films about military service and war from their perspectives.

Other short films being produced through this project, called Operation In Their Boots, focus on a veteran making the transition from a combat zone to a college campus, and the journey of another veteran as he escorted his friend’s body to its final resting place.

Culver City, Calif.-based Brave New Foundation, a media company founded by left-leaning director Robert Greenwald, developed the project as part of its documentary series called “In Their Boots,” which focuses on the wars’ effect on people back home.

The series is aimed at being objective and nonpartisan because the money to produce it comes from a fund that aids deployed service members and their families, said Lizette Becerra, a foundation spokeswoman. For Operation In Their Boots, each filmmaker receives a $7,500 stipend and $10,000 production budget.

Hartnett’s film is a story few Americans have seen, Becerra said.

“He’s just really breaking new ground, and that’s what was interesting about this story and what caught our attention here,” she said.

Responding to the ad posted on Craigslist, Hartnett said he originally wanted to direct a short film about the security firm formerly known as Blackwater. Then he heard about the deadly shootings at Fort Hood allegedly carried out by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an American-born Muslim. He wondered why all the stories he heard about Muslims in the military were negative, recalling the media coverage of an Army sergeant accused of killing two officers and wounding 14 soldiers in a grenade attack during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Hartnett said he was fascinated by Yee’s story when he read about it.

“It’s the perfect example of suspicion within the government,” he said as his director of photography, Barry Gregg of Seattle, shot background footage at Capitol Campus under blue skies.

One estimate has between 4,000 and 20,000 Muslims serving in the U.S. military, Hartnett said, although he thinks that number is low because service members aren’t required to declare their religion – hence his film’s title, “No Religious Preference.”

At Yee’s suggestion, Hartnett interviewed Muhammad Chaudhry, who was raised in Pakistan. Chaudhry joined the Washington Army National Guard and was severely injured during training for a deployment to Iraq in 2003.

During a visit to Dearborn, Mich., which has one of the largest populations of Arab-Americans in the United States, Hartnett interviewed retired Marine Corps 1st Sgt. Jamal Baadani. Baadani founded the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military and held one of the highest enlisted ranks in the corps.

“I couldn’t even contemplate that six months ago,” said Hartnett, who lives in California and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in film production from San Francisco State University last year.

Yee is the former Muslim chaplain who the Army jailed and charged with spying while he was ministering to detainees at the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The case collapsed and the charges against him were dropped. Yee was honorably discharged in January 2005.

Yee said Hartnett contacted him a couple of months ago. Hartnett interviewed Yee for more than a hour at the Islamic Center of Olympia on Thursday, his final day of shooting.

“It’s good for people to know the different challenges they have serving in the military and to bring to light some of the unique talents that Muslims can provide” the military, including cultural education, said Yee, who has traveled around the country speaking about his experiences.

Hartnett said his travels have given him a better appreciation and understanding of Islam and its followers.

“They’re just as diverse as the Christian community and the Jewish community,” he said.

Becerra said the veterans’ films are scheduled to premier in Los Angeles in November. The films and earlier ones are available at www.intheirboots.com. Earlier films in the series will be broadcast on the local PBS affiliate starting next month, she said.

Christian Hill: 360-754-5427 chill@theolympian.com www.theolympian.com/outsideoly