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"Just before the election, a film about Iraq hit art house theaters around the country," writes Eartha Melzer. The "Voices of Iraq" documentary came from more than 400 hours of footage from 150 digital video cameras distributed to people around Iraq. Its tone is upbeat; "former Iraqi political prisoners are shown laughing off the stories of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib." The Washington DC-based Iraq Foundation, which receives State Department and National Endowment for Democracy funding, assisted the film's producers. The U.S. Army's former PR firm, Manning Selvage & Lee, coordinated publicity for the film. Given its timing, tone and connections, Melzer asks if Voices of Iraq was intended "to propagandize the U.S. population."