Profile of the Iraq Short Film Festival (ISFF)

Background

The Tradition of Iraqi Cinema

The Iraqi Cinema looks back on a long and colorful history originating in the beginning of the 20^th century. The first film projection took place in 1909, but it wasn’t until 1920 that film became a cultural activity. Historically, Iraqis watched Egyptian or Hollywood films; especially popular were subtitled action movies. The first Iraqi production company established itself in Baghdad in the 1940s. However, soon the dictatorial rule of the state suppressed any expression of human creativity and discouraged any socially relevant films. Since the overturn of the Saddam Hussein regime then, security concerns, irregular electricity and Islamist pressures against most forms of entertainment have led to movie theaters’ closing throughout Iraq. Only three feature films have been made by Iraqis and in Iraq since the war of 2003.

ISFF’s Objective

Film as a Medium

Yet there are efforts to revive cinema. At present, Iraqi artists and filmmakers are anxious to take cultural reconstruction efforts in their own hands. They intend to send a message to the world that cinema and culture are still alive in Iraq.

It is in this context that the Contemporary Visual Arts Society (CVAS), an Iraqi non-governmental organisation which supports and promotes contemporary Iraqi arts and artists, founded the Iraq Short Film Festival (ISFF) in 2005. Behind stands the idea that Iraqi filmmakers and production companies need a forum to establish contact with each other, to exchange expertise and to show their work to a broader audience. Also is the Festival supposed to demonstrate the vehement importance of cinema in Iraq. Film takes on significance as a medium to narrate the story of a traumatised and crisis-shaken nation. It serves as a “window”, allowing outsiders to catch a glimpse of the tragic reality prevailing in this country and insiders to communicate their fears and sufferings but also their dreams and their hopes. Over and above that, ISFF aims at reanimating the Iraqi people to go to the movie theatres – a tradition that has faded away during the long years of war.

However, ISFF is not only a cultural event, it is also an instrument to create a global network between filmmakers, production companies and lending bodies, with the objective to strengthen the international dialogue on a cultural basis. The increasing cooperation with different European Film Festivals would permit the circulation of know-how and enable ISFF to constantly expand and elaborate its program. On the national level the collaboration between local contributors, investors and the regional media is a giant stride towards a system based on peaceful communication and arrangement which is of major importance for the Iraqi community.

The 1^st Edition of the International Iraq Short Film Festival

The first ISFF was successfully held during September 24^th – 29^th 2005 at the Magic Lamp Movie Theatre in Baghdad. 140 films by Iraqi, Kurdish and other Arab filmmakers were submitted to a panel of experts. 58 films were chosen to compete for 7 prizes: 34 short films, 8 documentaries and 6 animation films. As a first guest country, Germany was invited to present 28 short films in an own guest section. The selection was made by the Hamburg Short Film Agency and the German Film Association. In addition, the Festival received entries also from Egypt, Great Britain, Japan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia which were screened separately outside the official programme.

Despite the complicated security situation most of the Middle Eastern artists attended the event. The local audience also showed great interest with more than 400 people watching the international screenings, setting a strong signal for the future. Among them were several important personalities of the political and cultural life, like Jalal Mashta, an official representative of the State President and Mufeed Al Jazaeri, former culture minister and head of the Culture and Tourism Committee in the National Assembly.

Two Iraqi productions won the category Best Short Film, Gaf, by Shawkat Amin Korki and Entrance Close to Freedom Monument, by Oday Rashid.

Not only many local broadcasters and newspapers covered the first Edition of the ISFF, also international media coverage was secured through BBC broadcasting and BBC British satellite, as well as through articles in the USA Today, The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.

The ISFF received generous support by many regional companies and institutions.

From the German side the Festival was greatly supported by the AG Kurzfilm, and IKFF Hamburg who facilitated access to the German short films and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the Goethe Institute who helped logistically.

For a full overview on supporters and sponsors please refer to page 4.

The 2^nd Edition of the International Iraq Short Film Festival

A 2^nd edition of ISFF is planned for November 2011, inviting Great Britain as guest country. Nizar Al-Rawi, Head of ISFF and Intishal Al-Timimi, Director of the Festival Program, have already outlined the four grand sections of the Festival program. The official competition will show a variety of local and international films (fiction, documentary and animation). This main program is complemented by screenings outside of competition, a historic side section and a section on “empowerment of women in life”. The awards that will be given in 13 categories.

Additionally to the traditional film program the Festival provides also an honoring ceremony for important personalities that have contributed to the buildup of Iraqi cinema. Furthermore, several business seminars are planned to enhance the local film producer’s knowledge in the development, production and financing of regionally and internationally sellable films. Among the accompanying cultural activities such as concerts, a heritage dance event, a photo exhibition, an artists-honoring ceremony and, dinner invitations for directors and donors, the Festival plans the long overdue publication of a book on Iraqi cinema.

The organizers calculate on a total budget of $410.000. Hence our first objective is the mobilization of various funds to assure the financial backing of the Festival. We count in this matter on the close collaboration and support of diverse local and international players, sharing one vision of a peaceful future in the Middle East and willing to contribute to the realization of this exceptional event.

Sponsors of the 2^nd Edition

In addition to a number of Iraqi private companies, a European organization contributed of coverage a part of the festival budget, and there is primary agreement with the French Cultural Center in Baghdad, Iraqi Oil Ministry, and a number of local radio stations, TV satellite stations, newspapers and magazines to contribute to the festival, as sponsors, donors, patrons and supporters.

Sponsors of the 1^st Edition of the

International Iraq Short Film Festival

Media Coverage during the 1^st Edition

The following newspapers supported and covered the event:

	Al-Mashriq Newspaper www.al-mashriq.net
	Al-Mada Newspaper http://almadapaper.net
	Al-Sabaah Newspaper www.alsabaah.com)
	Baghdad Newspaper
	Local Kurdish Newspaper
	New York Times http://nyti.ms/bCB7E4
	USA Today http://bit.ly/akORQZ

The following TV-Channels supported and covered the event:

	BBC Broadcasting
	Al-Sharqya satellite channel
	Al-Iraqia satellite channel
	Furat satellite
	Alhurra-iraq satellite channel
	Alarabiya satellite channel
	Alhurra satellite channel
	Iraq Freedom Broadcasting

Photo Galery

The ISFF Team in Action

Nizar Al-Rawi

President of the ISFF

Dr. Hamudi Jasim

Director of the ISFF

Intishal Al-Timimi

Head of the ISFF-Programme

Dr. Jalal Al-Mashtah

Personal Representative of the Republic President 

Dhiyaa Al-Shakarchi

Member of Parliament

Dr. Shafiq Al Mehdi

General Manager of the Cinema and Theatre Directorate

Media Presence & Press Coverage

Exchange of Expertise

The Audience – Full of Expectation

Finally: The Prize Giving Ceremony

Dossier on Media Coverage       

Al-Mashriq Newspaper

Al-Mada Newspaper

Al-Sabah Newspaper

Baghdad Newspaper

Local Kurdish Newspaper

Local Kurdish Newspaper

The New York Times

Defying Terror, Filmgoers Attend a Festival in Baghdad

Scott Nelson/WPN, for The New York Times

Iraqis at a screening session of the first film festival held in Baghdad since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

By SABRINA TAVERNISE

Published: September 29, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 28 - In what was perhaps as much an act of defiance as a leisurely way of spending an afternoon, more than 300 Iraqis walked into a theater this past Saturday, and without metal detectors or security guards, sat down and watched a movie.Skip to next paragraph

Scott Nelson/WPN, for The New York Times

Ammar Saad captures video during the Baghdad film festival.

It was the start of Baghdad's first film festival since the American-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein, a six-day event that by Wednesday evening had produced hundreds of happy Iraqis and not a single casualty. While the violence ground on in other parts of the capital, spectators of all ages packed into the theater to watch locally made short films that ranged from a documentary about sheep farmers to a feature that had eight actors, crying and laughing, entering a telephone booth one by one.

"We're trying to send a message to people outside Iraq that this is a real country, not just a hole for terrorists," said the festival's organizer, Nizar al-Rawi, a graphic designer who is president of the Contemporary Visual Arts Society here. "We have thousands of years of art and knowledge. We can establish social life here."

The venue, a children's theater in central Baghdad called the Magic Lantern, was crowded with filmmakers and artists in T-shirts and jeans. People squeezed past one another, their bodies brushing walls hung with framed pictures from old movies. Two small boys poured water from pitchers into plastic cups for viewers.

Some of the 58 short films being shown are whimsical animations. Others tell tales of suffering since the American invasion. But perhaps most important, the films, which are competing for prizes worth several thousand dollars, were made exclusively by Iraqis, mostly since the fall of the Hussein government.

"When you see beautiful young people starting these brave things, you feel happy," said Mufeed Jazaery, who was culture minister during Iraq's interim government last year. "Under the surface there is a lot of life and movement that you cannot see from above."

The film industry in Iraq dates back to the 1940's, and Iraqis still have fond memories of going to the cinema with their families in the 1970's and 80's. But with the 1991 Persian Gulf war and the years of privation that followed the imposition of economic sanctions, theaters went into decline, and Iraqis fell out of the habit.

The fighting in 2003 also took its toll. The cinema at the Baghdad University film school burned down in a bombing. Looters later took much of what remained of the equipment. Of Baghdad's 11 film theaters, only a couple are in operation, said Hamoudi Jassim, a professor at the College of Fine Arts who helped organize the festival.

Festival participants seemed intent on chronicling the violence and chaos that have pressed in on their lives. The first film shown was a documentary about squatters living in a bombed-out secret police building in central Baghdad.

The filmmaker, Hadi Mahood, said that he was trying to show how Iraqis' lives are now filled with fear and pain, not entirely unlike their situation under Mr. Hussein, and that the police building, where Iraqis were tortured, symbolizes that.

"Most important is the idea to catch this time, to film it, to put it on a tape," Mr. Mahood said in an interview.

The films were an early start to this project. Some may have had poor sound and the unsteady shots that come of using a small handheld camera, but any lack of skill was more than balanced by courage and enthusiasm. Festival organizers expected about 30 films to be submitted, but in fact there were 140.

"So many subjects in Iraq are important now," said Mais al-Kair, 22, a recent graduate of the Baghdad Art Institute. "It's our duty to tell people how Iraqis are suffering."

Taking a camera in hand on the streets of Baghdad is a risky enterprise, and the filmmakers recounted experiences of having been attacked and their tapes confiscated.

The perils are set out in a documentary about the killings of Iraqi journalists made by Ammar Saad, an intense 27-year-old from an insurgent-controlled neighborhood in southern Baghdad. Mr. Saad said his film was inspired by the death in 2003 of a friend who worked for the Iraqiya television station, killed by a shot fired from an American army base in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

"Iraqi journalists are now in a critical position," Mr. Saad said. "The truth being told by the Iraqi media can really influence every side."

The title of his film, "Damn Gum," was infused with dark humor, a reference to Iraqi journalists' difficult role.

"The truth is unacceptable to people," Mr. Saad said, adding that like gum, "they can't spit it out, and they can't swallow it."

Harb al-Mukhtar contributed reporting for this article from Baghdad.

Chicago Tribune

Iraqi film fest reveals psyches bruised by war

By Aamer Madhani
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 29, 2005

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's first attempt at hosting an international film festival hasn't the buzz of Cannes or the silver screen starlets of Sundance.

But for the dozens of filmmakers and movie buffs who have gathered this week at the Magic Lamp theater for the International Iraq Short Film Festival, there is a feeling that they are watching the birth of an artistic tradition.

"More than anything, I think what we have accomplished this week is to create a real feeling of possibility for our work," said festival director Hamudi Jassim on Wednesday, as the fifth day of the six-day festival wound down.

The festival's board of directors received more than 140 submissions from 136 directors from at least six countries. In all, about 90 short films are being shown at the Magic Lamp. For this year's competition, festival directors decided that only directors residing in Iraq would be eligible for a cash prize.

The films' themes skew heavily toward the ravages of war, a subject fused into the experience of Iraqis, who over the last 25 years have lived through the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the subsequent 1991 Persian Gulf war and the 2003 U.S. invasion.

One director documented a mass killing in a northern village by the former regime, a topic that would have been taboo if Saddam Hussein were still in power. Another director named his seven-minute short "Coca-Cola." It is a fictional account of ambivalent feelings one man has about the U.S. occupation.

Most of the entries are heavy in substance, and many are achingly dark in their tenor, focusing on poverty, men dying at an early age and the devastating effects wars have had on Iraq.

The grand prize, to be announced on Thursday, is $4,000--chump change by Hollywood standards but a sum that exceeds the budgets most Iraqi entrants had for their movies.

While there is no Iraqi equivalent of Martin Scorsese or Stanley Kubrick, the festival's organizers tried to give a nod to the Iraqi film industry's past by decorating the walls of the theater with pictures of well-known Iraqi television and film actors of the last 30 years. Most of those actors starred in comedies or in odes to Arab history.

Iraq doesn't have a particularly storied film history. During Hussein's regime, filmmakers rarely addressed important issues or raised larger questions about the human condition out of fear of angering the dictator.

Because of the security situation, Jassim said, organizers were unable to persuade any of the foreign filmmakers whose pictures were being shown to attend the festival. Iraqi filmmakers came from throughout the country. One of the younger directors had to do a bit of conniving to make it to Baghdad.

Kermanj Qadir, 23, co-director of "None Existing Before Birth," said his family forbade him from traveling to Baghdad from their home in the relatively peaceful northern city of Sulaymaniyah.

Young director's grim story

Desperate to attend, he said he lied to his mother, telling her that he was going to a film festival in Irbil, another fairly quiet northern city.

Qadir's 14-minute film was told from the perspective of a fetus in a mother's womb. The fetus lives in a nameless country and is able to view what his life holds for him, a grim tale of forbidden love and loss.

His father will die a brutal death when his country goes to war. Fatherless and poor, the protagonist takes comfort playing the guitar and falls in love with a beautiful girl.

Playing guitar, however, is not very profitable, so he becomes a baker in the hope he will earn enough money to ask for the hand of the girl he adores. Her father rejects him.

The film ends with the fetus, unwilling to live in such a harsh world, willing himself to die in his mother's womb.

"That is life in Iraq--painful," Qadir said.

The idea of holding a film festival in the middle of a war zone was born in a griping session earlier this year.

Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune

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