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First-Place Winner, May - October 2007
Screenplay Contest - Teleplay/Short Series
"Kiyala"
Written by Kimberly Coleman
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kimberly Coleman is a full-time screenwriter with Master degrees in English and Nursing. 'Kiyala' also won Second Place in Gimme Credit Screenplay Competition Cycle V, and the 2007 Bronze Brad Award for Short Scripts in Movie Script Contest, and was in the Top Three Short Script Nominees at the 2007 Queens International Film Festival. For more information on Kimberly and her scripts you may contact her at coleman@merrimonpress.com or visit http://www.writerbytes.com?SiteID=1126.
LOGLINE
A young Iraqi electronics student must protect her family and bring vengeance to the Jihadists who martyred her father.
SYNOPSIS
Kiyala Otani's life as an electronics student in Baghdad is disrupted when her father is forced into a suicide bombing by Jihadists. Her mother and two young brothers are devastated by Wahid's loss. When she learns from friends that two students in their classes are followers of al-Asam, she offers herself as a martyr for their cause. Realizing the value of martyring the daughter as well, their leader Haitham, has Kiyala blindfolded and taken to their safehouse -- where she sees that the detonators for their suicide vests are Tegle cell phones.
She moves her family for safety then buys a Tegle at the marketplace with a plan to somehow switch SIM cards, but the Jihadists arrive unexpectedly at her house with a cache of weapons and new equipment - their safehouse bombed by the American military and the Tegles destroyed, now replaced with WWX German models. The SIM card is useless. She manages to slip a WWX into her pocket.
An hour before the American military convoy will be in position near the marketplace, Kiyala cooks breakfast for the Jihadists -- burning kebabs and using the smoke to hide her quick wiring of the phone from her pocket to one of the vests. Then, with the vests and phones loaded in the car the Jihadists drive her to the marketplace. En route and unseen by Haitham sitting in the backseat beside her, she unwires the WWX from her vest but leaves it strapped in place.
Haitham checks the phone as she steps from the car and instructs her to walk towards the marketplace. The convoy is approaching. She turns back to tell Haitham that taking people from their families and killing them for his cause is murder, not a process of martyrdom that gains him Paradise. He assures her since she is a non-believer she will have a place in eternal Hell…He punches in the numbers to the phone on her vest but it doesn't detonate -- she unstraps the phone, enters the numbers to the one wired to the vest in the car and it explodes, 'for my father, for my family.'
SCRIPT FOLLOWS
FADE IN
EXT. BAGHDAD - SUNRISE - 2007
The city from above.
The streets below come into focus…
…the streets leading to a small house in west
Baghdad become the conductive pathways on a printed
circuit board…
INT. OTANI KITCHEN - DAY
…the printed circuit board on the kitchen table in front
of KIYALA OTANI, University student, finishing a breakfast
of dates and yogurt with her father, WAHID, her mother,
NISREEN, and her pre-teen brothers, MAHMOUD and NIDA.
Mortars explode nearby followed by artillery fire.
The family continues breakfast. A final moment of peace
before the day.
INT. UNIVERSITY CLASSROOM - LATER
PROFESSOR diagrams PCB assembly on the chalkboard.
Kiyala sits between MARIAM and ZAHRA, Western-influenced
Muslim girls.
Kiyala's fingers adeptly wire electronic components to her
PCB. Mariam and Zahra watch her then stare intently at the
diagram unfolding on the board. Their own boards and
components sit untouched. Unfathomable mysteries.
EXT. MARKET - DAY
Open-air Baghdad marketplace with vegetables, fruits,
chickens, a few fish, scarves, rugs, and cell phones for sale.
Red dust from an approaching American military convoy settles over the market.
Wahid, closing his wallet, a distinct leather 'W' on the
front, carries a shopping bag of vegetables as he walks
to his car.
HAITHAM, in his 30s, a knitted green scarf around
his neck, follows Wahid.
An American Apache helicopter passes low overhead.
EXT. BAGHDAD UNIVERSITY - DAY
Mariam and Zahra, on break, sit on the steps of the
Electronics building with Kiyala. She studies as Mariam
and Zahra chainsmoke.
Two students from their class, JASSIM and HUSAM, watch
them, disapproving. Mariam, whispers to Zahra and indicates
Jassim.
MARIAM
That one is with al-Asam.
ZAHRA
How do you know!
MARIAM
Someone saw him leave the mosque.
ZAHRA
So?
MARIAM
Before the Shafiqs were martyred.
ZAHRA
If Jassim was a suicide bomber, he
would be dead.
MARIAM
You know nothing.
ZAHRA
'Suicide' bomber.
MARIAM
(scoffs)
There are groups, Zahra. With
leaders. Everyone doesn't die.
--Give me another cigarette.
ZAHRA
--Husam is very cute.
MARIAM
(to Zahra)
Whore. --Give me the cigarette!
KIYALA
(to Mariam)
You have no patience.
Zahra throws her a handful of cigarettes.
MARIAM
So I die from lung cancer and
not a bomb.
Mariam blows smoke in Zahra's face and lights another.
INT. WAHID'S CAR - DAY
Wahid pulls off from the market, turns onto a side street.
BASIM reaches through the car's open window and grabs Wahid
around the neck.
NAJI, wearing a backpack, opens the passenger door and
slides in beside Wahid.
BASIM
Pull over.
Naji sorts through the shopping bag, pulls out a plum.
EXT. SIDE STREET - DAY
The car stops. Basim opens the door and slides in beside
Wahid. Naji is eating the plum.
Haitham walks up to the car.
HAITHAM
Your wallet.
WAHID
(pulling out his wallet)
Please. Please. Take money, take
the food--
Haitham takes family photos from the wallet and Wahid's
identification. Wahid's address. He holds the card in
front of Wahid's eyes.
HAITHAM
You will be a martyr for al-Asam.
Naji pulls an explosives belt and a length of rope from
his backpack.
WAHID
No, please, I don't want to die.
My family--
Basim takes a silver cell phone from his shirt pocket and
quickly connects it to the wires on the belt.
Haitham returns the id and photos to the wallet.
HAITHAM
Your family, then, they will be
our martyrs.
WAHID
No!
Haitham slips the wallet into his own pants pocket.
HAITHAM
Then you.
Basim slides out of the car as Naji straps the explosives
belt around Wahid's waist then ties his wrists to the
steering wheel.
EXT. MARKET - DAY
The military convoy of AMERICAN SOLDIERS passes the
marketplace and approaches the entrance to the side street.
EXT. SIDE STREET - DAY
Dust from the convoy blows into the side street.
Haitham pulls a silver cell phone from his pocket.
Wahid is praying.
Naji grabs Wahid's shopping bag and closes the passenger
door.
HAITHAM
Turn the car around.
WAHID
Please.
HAITHAM
Now. --For Allah. For al-Asam.
The car inches forward.
Naji and Basim, waving, walk toward the passing convoy.
BASIM
Americans! --Americans! U-S-A!
Naji tosses plums to the soldiers.
NAJI
President Bush! Bush, thank you!
Thank you!
The car stalls.
BASIM
You overthrow Saddam--
Naji, laughing, tosses a bundle of celery to a SOLDIER.
He catches it, pretends to take a bite-
BASIM
--You give us…unimagined opportunity!
The soldiers laugh, wave.
Haitham strikes Wahid with the cell phone.
INT. WAHID'S CAR - DAY
HAITHAM
I promise you, your family will die.
WAHID
If you believe, please, martyr
yourself. --My family needs me.
HAITHAM
(angry)
What is your daughter's name.
--Your wife.
WAHID
No…
Haitham leans in, turns the ignition.
HAITHAM
al-Asam needs you.
Wahid steps on the clutch. The car starts.
Haitham shifts into first gear.
HAITHAM
Allah akbar.
EXT. SIDE STREET - DAY
The car turns around and moves slowly up the side
street.
Basim and Naji are nowhere in sight.
Haitham steps into a doorway and punches in numbers on the
cell phone as the doorway opens.
An AMERICAN MAN, mid-50s, with white hair and wearing a
suit, emerges.
INT. WAHID'S CAR - DAY
Wahid prays loudly, waving his hands as much as the
rope allows, to warn the soldiers.
EXT. SIDE STREET - DAY
The car moves steadily on a slowing personnel carrier.
INT. PERSONNEL CARRIER - DAY
DRIVER
Look at that guy--
The SOLDIER beside him grabs his rifle.
SOLDIER
(aims at Wahid)
Sarge! We got a situation--
EXT. SIDE STREET - DAY
The American man disappears through the doorway as Haitham
presses the last digit on the cell phone.
INT. WAHID'S CAR - DAY
Wahid closes his eyes.
SOLDIER (O.S.)
Bomber!
Bullets rip through Wahid's chest--
EXT. SIDE STREET - DAY
Personnel carrier wheels away as the car explodes.
INT. OTANI KITCHEN - DAY
Kiyala drops her bookbag at the door. Mahmoud and Nida
huddle beside the pantry, frightened.
NISREEN
(distraught)
Your father has not returned from
the market--
KIYALA
Stop it. You upset Mahmoud and
Nida.
NISREEN
Something is wrong--
KIYALA
Then I will go see.
EXT. SIDE STREET - DAY
An ambulance pulls away, a police car trails behind.
A dozen IRAQIS talk quietly, staring at the twisted metal
of Wahid's car. Haitham stands among them.
Kiyala's uncle, YASIN, is beside the car.
KIYALA
Uncle Yasin, why are you here--
YASIN
Your father is dead.
She recognizes the remnants of the car.
KIYALA
No.
YASIN
My neighbor saw your father at the
market. He heard the explosion.
He knew Wahid's car.
Kiyala touches her father's blood on the door panel.
YASIN
Come. I will make arrangements.
Your mother, you, your brothers,
can come home with me.
INT. OTANI KITCHEN - DAY - LATER
Nisreen and the boys hold each other, wailing.
KIYALA
Why.
YASIN
(to Kiyala)
The police said a 'forced
suicide.' al-Asam. Their method.
KIYALA
For Allah?
YASIN
(shrugs)
For recruiting. If a person does
not cooperate with al-Asam, his
family is killed. This applies
to recruits and to those 'chosen'
for martyrdom.
KIYALA
And no one stops this?
YASIN
How.
INT. OTANI BEDROOM - NIGHT
Nisreen and the boys sleep together in her bed.
INT. OTANI KITCHEN - NIGHT
Kiyala drinks coffee at the table.
EXT. SIDE STREET - SUNRISE
Wahid's car is gone.
Kiyala stands where the car exploded. She holds a
shopping bag of food from the market.
Her father's dried blood is beneath her feet.
INT. UNIVERSITY CLASSROOM - DAY
The class wire-wraps circuits as the Professor paces.
Jassim and Husam talk quietly over their work. Zahra looks
at them.
ZAHRA
(to Kiyala)
They talk about you.
Kiyala concentrates on her circuits.
MARIAM
What do they say?
ZAHRA
(to Kiyala)
Your father was a martyr.
Kiyala's eyes meet Jassim's. He smiles at her.
KIYALA
(so Jassim hears)
My father was a martyr.
MARIAM
It was forced.
KIYALA
I want to be a martyr.
ZAHRA
What are you saying!
KIYALA
I want to honor my father's
sacrifice.
MARIAM
Kiyala!
KIYALA
Do not talk to me.
Mariam and Zahra look at each other.
EXT. BAGHDAD UNIVERSITY - DAY - LATER
Kiyala walks ahead of Mariam and Zahra, ignoring them.
Haitham leans against a palm tree beside the Electronics
building.
Aware someone watches her, she glances at Haitham.
Then past.
The green scarf.
CONTINUED
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