Jawed Wassel

Jawed Wassel (1959 – October 3, 2001) was an Afghan-American film director who made the film FireDancer, which was the first Afghan film to be submitted for an Academy Award. He was fatally stabbed on October 3, 2001, after getting into a dispute with another filmmaker, Nathan Powell, over earnings from the production of FireDancer.

Career Wassel was an aspiring filmmaker who was born in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan in 1958. He previously lived in Pakistan, Germany and France before entering the United States. In his independent film, Wassel wanted to recount and incorporate the story of his youth as an immigrant from Soviet-invaded and Taliban-dominated Afghanistan to New York.

FireDancer was not the only film project that Wassel worked on. He was also constructing a smaller documentary that would portray the displays of remembrance for the many victims who died in the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Death Towards the end of the film's production, Wassel attempted to convince Powell to accept a lesser stake of 10% of the gross earnings, in place of the 30% that he was initially promised. Powell quickly became enraged and impaled Wassel with a pool cue, then "stabbed Wassel 'several times' before dismembering his body with a hacksaw."

Filmography FireDancer (2002)