24/03/2026
From the makers of the excellent Letters from Baghdad
Dear Friends,
Women's History Month is a time when we reflect on our work to champion the forgotten stories of extraordinary and visionary women such as our recent film, Obsessed with Light, about Loïe Fuller.
It has been 10 years since we released Letters from Baghdad, our documentary about Gertrude Bell. More influential and famous in her day than her colleague T.E. Lawrence, Bell was an explorer, spy, archaeologist and diplomat who helped shape the Middle East after World War I and established the Iraq Museum, infamously ransacked in 2003. July 12th will mark the 100th anniversary of her death in Baghdad.
Gertrude Bell's first journey to the Middle East was to Tehran in 1892. She would remain capitivated by the region for the rest of her life. While in Tehran, the 23-year Oxford graduate mastered the Persian language, Farsi, and began a prolific writing career as she sought to share the wonders of the East with a broad audience. In 1896, she published Persian Pictures, an account of her travels in Iran and, in 1897, The Poems from the Divan of Hafiz. This volume is considered by many to be the finest English translation of the work of the revered Persian poet, Hafiz.
Update from the Archives...
The Gertrude Bell Archive at Newcastle University holds over 10,000 items including her personal correspondence, diaries and photographs, and was a vital source of primary material for our film. In collaboration with the Royal Geographic Society, the Archive is completing the digitisation of over 530, original, celluloid negatives taken by Gertrude Bell during her 1500 mile journey through the Nejd Desert to the ancient walled city of Ha'il in Saudi Arabia. Selections from the collaborative project will be on exhibition at the RGS in London in August.
Elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in June 1913, Bell was awarded the RGS Founders Medal in 1918 “for her important explorations and travels in Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia and on the Euphrates”.
Upcoming Events...
In honour of the 100th anniversary of Gertrude Bell's death, there are numerous upcoming events including:
April 11th, Letters From Baghdad, screening at New Plaza Cinema, Macauley Honors College, New York, USA. Q&A to follow with directors Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl, moderated by Desert Queen author Janet Wallach.
May 11th, Gertrude Bell: An Enduring Legacy, lecture at the Royal Geographic Society, London, UK
July 3-12th, Letters from Baghdad, screening at Bradford Literature Festival, Bradford, UK
Available to Stream...
If you can't make it to a screening, Letters from Baghdad is available for streaming on Vimeo worldwide and in the U.S. on Prime Video, AppleTV and PBS.
"Do read her letters. They are wonderful. " T.E. Lawrence
Please Spread the Word! You can help us bring Gertrude Bell's extraordinary story to audiences around the world by sharing this newsletter and connecting us with your local cinemas, museums and educational institutions.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
About the Film...
Directed by Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum, Letters from Baghdad tells the story of Gertrude Bell who left the confines of Edwardian England to seek freedom and independence in the Arabian desert and became the most powerful woman of her day in the British Empire. In the aftermath of WWI, Bell drew the borders of modern Iraq, was instrumental in installing its first king and founded the Baghdad Museum of Antiquities. The first feature-length documentary on Gertrude Bell, the film will explore the choices that trail blazing women almost always have to make, and how her actions and the decisions she made in the formation of modern Iraq continue to influence current events in the Middle East and the world today.
