Weam Namou: The Chaldean American Storyteller Reshaping Cultural Memory

“As a child reading Gone with the Wind at age nine, I connected with its humanity. That’s what I strive for—stories that transcend culture and reach the soul.”

Born in Baghdad and raised in Detroit, Weam Namou has built a career out of breaking silence and bridging continents. As the first Iraqi American woman to write and direct a feature film, Namou is a pioneering voice for the Chaldean community—a people often erased from modern narratives. Her work is at once deeply personal and globally resonant, a fusion of ancestral memory and cinematic vision.

Her breakout novel The Feminine Art—the first Chaldean American novel—set the tone: “After it came out, I did over 100 radio interviews,” she recalls. “People were fascinated by my heritage. That process deepened my connection to it.” When ISIS destroyed her ancestral lands in 2014, storytelling became something greater than art. “It became a mission to preserve what extremists have tried to erase.”

Break barriers learn

Namou’s most recent feature, Pomegranate, released in 25 countries, earned international acclaim. “The most surprising reactions came from people with no Middle Eastern background who still saw themselves in the film,” she says. One viewer, a half-Italian, half-Palestinian Naval Academy grad, even flew to Michigan just to thank her.

“It means I broke barriers. I created something out of nothing.”

That something includes 21 books, two feature films, and a spiritual writing community: The Path of Consciousness. The name came to her during a Tamazcal ceremony in Cancun. “That path changed me. I came back and built something that could change others.”

Unveil hidden truths

The dualities in her life are striking. She’s both a mystic and a filmmaker, a poet and a journalist. And she juggles these with remarkable grace: “Even a 10-second TikTok can hold poetry, reporting, and cinema,” she says. “I research, I write, I film.”

Namou’s work is rooted in the ancient and informed by the now. She is a living bridge between Mesopotamia and modernity. “Chaldeans are the indigenous people of Iraq. We created the first city-states, the first written language. Most people don’t know we still exist. But we do. And many of us still speak Aramaic—the language of Jesus.”

“Our history didn’t start with Christianity. It goes back thousands of years before.”

Discover your true potential

Her documentary A Chaldean American Storyteller is a love letter to that legacy. It’s also a meditation on her mother’s influence. “She was never schooled, but had the deepest wisdom. Her sense of identity, her humor, her unshakable practicality—that’s the soul of my storytelling.”

Detroit, where Namou studied communication at Wayne State University and film at the Motion Picture Institute, has also shaped her voice. “Detroit gave me my education and my fellowship. It gave me my first stages, my first audience.”

In 2024, Namou received the Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellowship for Directing. Her nonprofit, Unique Voices in Films, continues to elevate underrepresented stories. Her current goal? A documentary on the teachings of Lynn V. Andrews, a late mystic whose mentorship helped Namou “gather energy, embrace creative power, and choreograph life.”

Uncover hidden voices

“The more I write about my community, the more I fall in love with it.”

Namou’s storytelling is an act of survival. An act of rebellion. An act of love.

“My dream is that after watching the film, people are inspired to research more about Chaldeans—that our story becomes as known as Native American stories.”

Ignite your curiosity

Follow her journey: Instagram: @weamnamou Facebook: Weam Namou TikTok: @weamnamou YouTube: Weam Namou Website: weamnamou.com Watch the trailer for A Chaldean American Storyteller: Vimeo