Independent Film & Television College Student Films

The following films (trailers above) were shot shot between the end of 2004 and October 2005 by students of the Independent Film and Television College in Baghdad. The college, the first of its kind in Iraq, charges no tuition fees and is funded by international charities (including the Open Society Institute), trade unions, and private donations.

Baghdad Days

35 minutes
Directed by Hiba Bassem, 2005

Hiba Bassem, a young woman from Kirkuk, returns to Baghdad after the war, to finish her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. The film is a diary of her year as she tries to find a place to live, looks for work, graduates from college, deals with family problems and struggles to come to terms with her position as a woman on her own. This film won a New Horizon silver award at the Al Jazeera International Film Festival in Doha (2006) and a golden award at the Rotterdam Arab Film Festival (2006).

Hiwar

12 minutes
Directed by Kifaya Saleh, 2005

For years a group of Iraqi artists and writers had wanted to establish a cultural centre in Baghdad. After 8 years of devastating war with Iran, the Gulf War of 1991 and the ongoing sanctions, it was clear that there was no point in waiting for peace. So the Hiwar centre was opened in an old house in 1992 and is now being re-built.

Omar Is My Friend

15 minutes
Directed by Mounaf Shaker, 2005

A student at Baghdad University works as a taxi driver to support his wife and 4 daughters. As he negotiates his clapped out taxi around checkpoints, tanks and traffic jams, he talks about work, lack of petrol, electricity, having daughters in a male-dominated society, his personal aspirations and those of his society.