InfoAnda - Iraq director pleads for post-war film backing

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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Asia Pacific World Iraq director pleads for post-war film backing AFP - Sunday, October 11 Send IM Story Print Iraqi film director Mohamed Al-Daradji -- pictured in New York City -- says a lack of government support is threatening his country's nascent post-war film industry, crucial to eroding a culture of violence. ABU DHABI (AFP) - – Iraqi director Mohamed al-Daradji says a lack of government support is threatening his country's nascent post-war film industry, crucial to eroding a culture of violence. Daradji was speaking to AFP at the world premiere of his second feature movie "Son of Babylon" during Abu Dhabi's third annual Middle East International Film Festival. The film tells the story of a bereaved mothers journey -- accompanied by her grandson -- in search of her son, a musician-turned-soldier who went missing during Iraq's 1991 invasion of Kuwait. "This film is important for Iraqis. We are sending a good message to the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people to support Iraqi culture," Daradji said at Friday's premiere. "Its important for me as an Iraqi director... I didnt get support from Iraq, we got it from outside," he said, referring to the co-production involving Iraq, Britain, the Netherlands, France and United Arab Emirates. In the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and triggered bitter sectarian bloodshed, Daradji has been striving to capture the tragedy of his country on film. He attempted to revive Iraqi cinema through his debut feature "Ahlaam" in 2005, the first movie shot since the invasion, winning wide acclaim. "Its important. When the camera moves inside Iraq, it shows there is life and thats important for me as an Iraqi," said Daradji, who lives between England and Iraq. With the opening scene set in Kurdish northern Iraq, "Son of Babylon" follows the trail of Umm Ibrahim, a solemn elderly woman, and her young grandson Ahmad as they head to the south to find the boys father. The two encounter ruined buildings, blown-up cars, wailing grieving women and rifle-wielding US soldiers along the way. "We cant look to the future if we dont deal with the past," Daradji told a fully packed theatre at the Emirates Palace hotel after the movie screening. "I am talking about Iraq... (there is a) culture of violence that we need to deal with to avoid it in the future. Thats why I deal with the past," he said in response to a question on why his film was about the past. The film is full of compelling scenes, such as one showing the grandmother sitting in the pit of a desert mass grave surrounded by skeletons marked with small red flags and name tags. Crying and howling, she pats a skull and addresses it as if it were her dead son, lamenting that she hasnt seen him for 12 years. The young boy goes around reading names off the skeletons in a sorrowful frenzy. "The film is reflecting the reality as people experience it," Daradji said. After receiving a standing ovation at the theatre, he said the fact he is dealing with reality cinema prompted him to want to work with normal people rather than professional actors -- as he had done in his first film -- to whom he gives on-the-job training. The elderly woman cast in Umm Ibrahims role had a son who died in prison and her husband went missing and she is still searching for him until this day, Daradji said. "Dealing with her was dealing with reality," he explained. "Since I work on reality cinema, I should work with normal people," he said. "Now, a lot of people are still missing in Iraq, a lot of new mass graves are being discovered and there is still a lot of violence." The young boy trained for about three to four months and put in a striking performance, he added. Almost all the characters speak in Kurdish -- adding yet another depth to the movie through highlighting Iraqs bitter ethnic and sectarian divisions. "For me in Iraq there is no difference between Arab and Kurd, Shiite and Sunni because they are all humans and they all suffer the same suffering," he said. This sentiment is reflected in the film when the Kurdish driver alludes to Saddams Al-Anfal campaign in the late 1980s, which he says targeted not only Kurds but also Arabs and everyone else -- a testimony to Iraqis shared suffering. Also, a former soldier in Saddams army travelled part of the journey with Umm Ibrahim and Ahmad, but after Umm Ibrahim calls him a "murderer" on discovering he killed Kurds, she granted him forgiveness. "We have to remember the past, deal with its mistakes and forgive others," Daradji concludes about his films. 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