A Young Man’s Journey for Belonging in ‘Pinball’ at the True/False Film Festival
The U.S. invasion of Iraq resulted in a devastating loss of life, potentially claiming hundreds of thousands of victims and displacing nine million Iraqis across the globe.
Among those seeking refuge were Mohammed Al Windawi, his wife, and their two young children—Yosef, then four, and his younger sister, Azraa. The family first fled to Jordan, then relocated to Egypt, before ultimately resettling in the United States as refugees, settling in Louisville, Kentucky.
Yosef’s journey of self-discovery, navigating between cultures and countries, is chronicled in the documentary Pinball, which premiered at the True/False festival in Columbia, Missouri. Following the screening, Yosef described the film as a “exploration of my past and the search of who I am.”
Yosef on the soccer pitch.
The documentary also explores Yosef’s friendships with other young men in Louisville who share similar backgrounds. He reflects on a complicated yet affectionate relationship with his father, alongside a shared sense of longing for their homeland.
“Naturally my body doesn’t feel at home here. Naturally,” Yosef says in the film regarding his feelings about Louisville. “Physically, I feel it. I feel healthier in other parts of the world. That’s no coincidence. I know what my body needs and I want to feed it that.”
Director Naveen Chaubal (right) and producer Bryn Silverman
Directed by Naveen Chaubal, who grew up in neighboring Indiana as the son of Indian immigrants, the film emerged from a previous short film made about a decade earlier. During a Q&A session, Chaubal shared how he connected with Yosef and his family.
“Through that process, we met Yosef and Azraa and their family. And that was when I started to see so many familiar dynamics and scenes play out going over to their house,” he said. “It felt so familiar and familial that it was just like, ‘Oh, there’s something here that needs to be shared.’”
Yosef and Azraa in ‘Pinball’
In the film, Yosef and Azraa contemplate returning to Egypt, a place where they feel they could be more liberated, free from the scrutiny often faced by Arab immigrants in the U.S. Their time in Cairo, documented by Chaubal, reveals humorous moments between the siblings.
“We have a lot of sibling bickering, but I really do think that that trip made our bond a lot stronger, like inseparable. We are very close,” Azraa commented. “That trip and working so closely with [producer] Bryn [Silverman] and Naveen as well, it really helped our relationship.”
Yosef Al Windawi and Azraa Al Windawi
Pinball features an innovative score by composer Will Epstein, who shared insights during the Q&A about his collaboration with Chaubal.
“I worked on the short film [with Chaubal] and it was one of the first films I scored,” Epstein noted. “We sort of whittled it down into this kind of very cohesive-feeling world. And so, it’s been a really special process.”
In his director’s statement, Chaubal reflects on the film’s themes: “At its heart, Pinball is about becoming: becoming a man; becoming a brother; and becoming someone capable of holding both grief and possibility in the same body.”
He continues, “The story we were telling—of displacement, resilience, and belonging—seemed like one this country preferred not to see. Now it feels impossibly urgent.”
Chaubal emphasizes that Pinball transcends a mere narrative of oppression, aiming instead to provide Yosef with a space for genuine expression as a young person forging his identity amid complex relationships.
Pinball is directed by Naveen Chaubal, who also served as cinematographer and editor, with Bryn Silverman as producer. The film’s executive producer is Carrie Lozano.
A brief clip of Pinball, featuring Yosef and his father, Mohammed, begins with music from Epstein’s score.
