Albert J. Nader was elated as anyone when the regime of Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. What he could not have known is just what that would mean for his Assyrian Christian ancestors remaining in the region.
The new documentary that Nader, and his Chicago-based media company, Questar, co-produced with veteran director, Rob Marcarelli, documents the persecution, kidnapping, and murder of Assyrian-Christians in Iraq.
“Facing Extinction: Assyrian Christians in Iraq” hits hard in documenting the terror facing Christians in Iraq left undefended amidst a radicalized Shiite majority.
That the Assyrians, the last community of ancient Christians, first converted by Christ’s apostles 2,000 years ago, are on the verge of extinction without international intervention is a fact.
Nader, a former U.S. Marine Corps officer and the Assyrian-American son of a Christian immigrant from Iran, was shocked when he first learned the plight of Christians in post-Saddam Iraq.
California-based Marcarelli, who directed over 300 commercials for clients like Pepsi, Renault, and McDonald’s and 12 theatrical and television features, has moved toward projects of passion in recent years, including Christian historical films and global humanitarian docs.
Nader received a call from Marcarelli, with whom he had produced projects in the past, “and asked me if I was Assyrian Christian,” he recalls.
