The most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day, Gertrude Bell shaped the modern Middle East after World War I, and helped draw the borders of Iraq. With unique access to documents from the Iraq National Library and Archive and Bell’s personal writings, Letters from Baghdad tells the story of Bell and Iraq entirely in the words of the players of the time, excerpted verbatim from intimate letters, private diaries, and secret communiqués. This fascinating documentary makes a fitting companion to The End of the Ottoman Empire, also screening at BAMPFA this season.