Information For

WESeminar: Searching for the Folk Philosopher

Friday, October 24, 2025 — 3-4 p.m.
Frank Center for Public Affairs, Room 100

Join us for a screening of a chapter of the film-in-progress Searching for the Folk Philosopher, followed by a discussion with the Iraqi director Mounir Salah and Wesleyan graduate student Ameen Mokdad MA’26, who is the film’s composer and Impact Producer.

In the film, Salah searches for his grandfather’s friend Aziz Ali, the pioneer monologist of Iraq. Because of his critical political monologues, various Iraqi governments considered Ali inimical. He was sent to prison several times for his commentary, accused first of being a Communist, then a Nazi, and finally a Freemason. What will Salah do once he discovers that his grandfather met the same end as his friend?

“When music becomes that put your life on the line, to end up in jail, exile then punished to be executed but you survive the rope and never stop.”

Sponsored by the World Music Archives & Music Library. Email wma@wesleyan.edu for more information.