Iraq comes into focus with free online festival showing films from or about the country
Afree online film festival dedicated to indie films from and about Iraq will run this month.
The Independent Iraqi Film Festival will screen 13 films from Friday August 21, to Friday, August 28, at 7.30pm UAE time, via its official website.
The event is being run by a team of volunteers, including Shahnaz Dulaimy, a film editor who has worked on a number of award-winning productions, such as Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb and Annemarie Jacir’s When I Saw You.
Also involved are Israa Al Kamali, a poet whose work explores themes of identity, exile, trauma and the deconstruction of language; Ahmed Habib, who is part of the editorial team at Iraqi digital magazine Shakomako.net; and Roisin Tapponi, an Irish-Iraqi writer who founded the Habibi Collective, a platform dedicated to shining a spotlight on female filmmakers in the Middle East.
“The essence of what we want to do through IIFF is to empower directors, actors, screenwriters, producers, designers, sound artists and other creatives to tell the story of Iraq, the resilience of its people, and the breadth of its culture, to a global audience,” reads a statement on the festival’s Instagram page.
The event’s organisers launched an open call for submissions from Iraqi filmmakers in early June, with a the submission deadline of June 21. The team received more than 80 entries.
The programme includes several features by established directors, such as the thriller
Baghdad in My Shadow by Samir. The film was presented in competition at the Locarno Film Festival last year. It brings together three different characters who visit an Iraqi cafe in London.
The Independent Iraqi Film Festival will also screen the documentary Mirrors of
Diaspora by Kasim Abid, a story of seven Iraqi artists who live outside the country, detailing their exile, creativity, alienation, memories and nostalgia.
Mohamed Al Daradji’s War,
Love, God and Madness (2008) will also be screened. It follows the director’s efforts to make a film in Iraq during the war, having lived outside his homeland for many years. There are also a number of short films by up-and-coming filmmakers scheduled to be screened during the festival, including Sabeya by Dhyaa Joda, Mouthwash by Reman Sadani and Um Abdullah by Sahar Al
Sawaf.
Viewers can also tune in to a talk that will be held by members of the Habibi Collective and Shakomako.net on Sunday, August 23. The two organisations will discuss the power of film to inspire social change.
The event will screen 13 independent titles and host a talk on how film can inspire change
The Independent Iraqi Film Festival runs online from Friday, August 21, to Friday, August 28, at 7.30pm. More information is available at www.iiffestival.com