Like Roberto Rossellini and other filmmakers from the Italian Neo-Realism, Ahlaam was shot with non-professional actors on location in Baghdad in the immediate aftermath of war. After Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003, Al-Daradji travelled back to his homeland, after having fled the country to Holland while studying Theatre Directing at the Fine Art Institute in Baghdad, following the murder of his politically active cousin in 1995. On his arrival, he found heartbreaking chaos and was particularly disturbed with the sight of numerous psychiatric patients wandering on the Streets, as the hospitals were being destroyed by the bombings. It was his experiences helping the staff of a psychiatric hospital to round up some of these patients that inspired the story of Ahlaam.

The crew filmed under highly unstable political and military conditions throughout its 55 - day shooting schedule in Baghdad. They not only encountered all kinds of technical restrictions, but were also exposed to shooting from both sides and experienced abduction, torture and imprisonment by insurgents and by the American forces. Despite a go-ahead from the coalition command and a protective guard of Iraqi police, Al-Daradji found it necessary to wield an AK47 in one hand and his camera in the other. Despite the protection, members of the crew, Mohamed, were kidnapped, beaten and threatened with execution by Baa'thists before being handed over to the Americans for extreme interrogation.

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