Iraqi films at Gulf Film Festival take on country's wounds

The Iraqi films in the festival offer a range of genre and mood, but nearly all deal with the country's painful recent past, offering thoughtful, passionate and necessary dialogue on a people who have survived hell on earth.

The only feature film, L'Aube Du Monde (Dawn of the World), follows cousins Mastour and Zahra, who are married in a joyous wedding. Forced apart by the Gulf War, their lives change forever. Dying Mastour forces a promise from his friend Ziad to marry Zahra when the war is over.

However, she is devastated by the loss of Mastour and shuts herself off. In a foreign environment, Ziad must do the impossible to find his place. Iraqi-born director Abbas Fahdel's previous directorial credits include the documentary "Back To Babylon" (2002).

5 documentaries make up the Iraqi contributions. Adasat Maftouha fil Iraq (Open Shutters Iraq) chronicles a photojournalism project where women from five cities in Iraq train together in Damascus. This film explores how traumatised people can resist the 'un-making' of their world and assert their existence through creativity.

Iraqi-British director Maysoon Pachachi has worked as a scriptwriter and documentary film director and is a founding member of London-based Women's Action For Iraq. Hayat Ma Baad Al Sukut (Life After the Fall) follows Iraqi director Kasim Abid's return to Baghdad in 2003.

In this extraordinary film, shot chronologically over the next four years, Abid, through the prism of his extended family in the city, charts the optimism and excitement of 2003 descending into despair as the country struggles with civil war and growing anarchy. The film won Best Film at the Munich International Film Festival and a Golden Hawk Prize at the Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam in 2008.

Virus, by award-winning filmmaker Jamal Amin, deals with a weekend trip with five friends who were born in Iraq and now live in Denmark, their experience symbolized by their broken-down minibus. Against the Light is a portrait film about Mahmoud Sabri, an Iraqi artist in exile. Sabri has invented the idea of Quantum Realism, exploring the world as an ongoing process. London-based Koutaiba Al Janabi, explores Sabri's ideas and vibrant personality.

Also exploring the artist's experience is Ali Hashim Hussain's Rooh el Cinema (Spirit of Cinema), a short film in the 'Lights' programming segment that follows an old cinematographer as he walks through streets and cafés, observing life through his camera.

Guerre dei Grandi (Grown Up's War) , by critic and director Erfan Rashid is the sole entry towards Films for Children, follows a ten-year old girl who, after watching a film about the war in Iraq, seeks the answer to her question: "Why do grownups carry on making wars?"

Two student documentaries offer an interesting glimpse into life in Baghdad: Red Zone Citizens is about a group of actors living in the dangerous (red) zone in Baghdad, trying to set up a theatre group. The actors continued following their vocation of acting even during the sectarian violence that followed the 2003 invasion. Switzerland-based director Luay Fadhel's first documentary See Them follows motorcycle stunt riders in Baghdad.

Social issues are centre stage in three shorts: I am Her, I am Him, by Rome-based, Iraqi-born filmmaker Ali Assaf, charts the rise in sectarianism following the 2003 invasion. Press, by Hashim al Efari, charts the hardships and even mortality facing reporters before and after the changes in Iraq. Director Mohammad Tawfik's Noura follows a divorced Middle Eastern woman in her mid-30s. As she rides the metro, she speaks over the phone to her lover, ex-husband and son, revealing her layered roles and relations to the men in her life.

Three films in the 'Lights' programming segment continue the social theme: Kavuka Spi (White Dove) by Viyan Mayi follows young Sardar, a former college student released from prison having served time for the heinous crime his uncle forced him to commit to protect his family's honor.

Basher al Majid's Private Under Service examines how the war has shattered the relationship between a father and son, and Mano Khalil's Zind ana Mi, Mal Ami (My Prison, My Home) documents the hundreds of Kurdish families forced to make their homes in their former cells in the defunct Nizarke prison, where they had been on death row during Saddam's reign.