“Mobile cinema is an opportunity to create hope in Iraq and the Middle East by focusing on the cultural opportunities that this beautiful country has to offer”
- Mohamed Al-Daradji
Aims
- Bring Iraqi families and communities together through cinema, inspiring a new generation who have not yet experienced its magic.
- Use culture to free the minds and imaginations of peoples oppressed by recent history, by engaging audiences with stories from their own regions
- Deliver a clear message to the Iraqi authorities, illustrating that cinema is a vital and necessary part of Iraq’s cultural life that must be nurtured and supported.
- Inspire Iraq’s government and community organisations to develop a forward-thinking infrastructure for cinema in the country.
Background
The Iraqi Mobile Cinema Festival was established in 2009 and today is supported by: The Council of Baghdad, The Ministry of Culture, The Iraqi film foundation, The Iraqi Independent Film Centre (I.I.F.C), Zain, IMC, Al-Mustakbal Foundation, Al Sumaria TV, DHL ,Kinoton , Open Air Cinema, ICMP, The Dutch Embassy, via the Dutch Foreign Ministry, Doen, Hivos, The Swiss Foreign Development Agency represented by the Swiss Embassy in Baghdad
Having run for an incredibly successful first term, the mobile cinema project has recently returned to Iraq for its second run. The programmed films endeavor to give a rich representation of Iraqi history and culture that have garnered international acclaim on the film festival circuit: Oday Rashid’s Quarantina, Shawkat Ameen’s Kick-Off and Al-Daradji’s Son of Babylon and Iraq: War, Love, God and Madness. In addition, the short films Frame (Loay Fadhil Abbass) andConcrete (Iaas Jihad) will be showcased.
The films will screen in seven different cities as part of the project.Each location has been painstakingly selected and bears a special significance to the films and Iraqis:- Nasiriyah: close to the House of Abrahim where the first language of man was development. Amarah: the marshlands more famously known for being the Garden of Eden. Najaf: a filming location with the headlining film and one of THE Holiest places on earth. Babil: one of the Seven Wonders of the World and finally Sulaymaniyah: in a village in the Kurdish region destroyed by Saddam’s former Regime.
Press Releases
Resources
- First Mobile Cinema Project
- Second Mobile Cinema Project – Mar-May 2011 – Photos
- Second Mobile Cinema Project – Mar-May 2011 – Facebook Group
- BBC Arabic coverage of Baghdad screening
