MOVIES - FICTION
BAGHDAD IN MY SHADOW
by Samir
VOD
London, just before Christmas: The strong-willed architect AMAL - on the run from her ex-husband - works at Café Abu Nawas, which belongs to a Kurdish activist and is a popular meeting place for Iraqis in exile.
Her friends, the poet TAUFIQ and the IT specialist MUHANAD, come by almost every day. Taufiq has been taking care of his nephew NASSEER since his brother's death, but he is powerless to watch his nephew change under the influence of radical Islamist preacher Sheikh YASSIN, as Nasseer begins to rebel against him as an atheist.
Muhanad, on the other hand, left Baghdad only recently to escape the threat that homosexuals face there. But even here and in front of his friends, he doesn't dare to publicly stand by his English lover.
The small community is in danger when Amal's ex-husband appears in London and Sheikh Yassin simultaneously seduces Taufiq's nephew Nasseer to take action against the "godless" in Café Abu Nawas.
Credits
Year: 2019
Country: CH, D, UK
Running Time: 108 Min.
Director: Samir
Author: Samir, Furat al Jamil
Co-Author: Furat al Jamil
Producer: Joel Jent
Co-Producer: Herbert Schwering (Coin Film), Christine Kiauk (Coin Film), Christine Alderson (Ipso Facto Productions), Stina Werenfels (Aleppo Films)
Camera: Ngo The Chau
Editor: Jann Anderegg
Sound: Patrick Storck
Music: Walter Mair
Gaffer: Raphael Toel
Casting Director: Vicky Wildman, Susanne Ritter, Ali Al-Fatlawi, Dixie Chassay
Costumes: Ulrike Scharfschwerdt
Make-up: Madleina von Reding
Set Designer: Fabian Lüscher
Production Manager: Peter Kreutz
Production Assistant: Sophia Rubischung
Cast: Haytham Abdulrazaq, Zahraa Ghandour, Waseem Abbas, Shervin Alenabi, Awatif Salman, Kae Bahar, Ali Daeem, Farid Elouardi, Andrew Buchan, Maxim Mehmet, Kerry Fox
Awards 24th Arabian Sights Film Festival Washington, DC - Audience Award 2019
55. Solothurner Filmtage, Prix du Public 2020
23. Schweizer Filmpreis, Nomination Bestes Drehbuch 2020
23. Schweizer Filmpreis, Nomination Bester Spielfilm 2020
23. Schweizer Filmpreis, Gewinner Bester Schnitt 2020
Festivals 72. Locarno Festival 2019
15. Festival du Film Français d'Helvétie 2019
53. International Hofer Filmtage 2019
29. Weltfilmtage Thusis
Iraqisms Beirut 2019
24. Arabian Sights Film Festival Washington DC 2019
23. Black Nights Film Festival 2019
Ventana Sur 2019
41. Cairo IFF 2019
31. Palm Springs International Film Festival 2020
55. Solothurner Filmtage 2020
23. Sonoma International Film Festival 2020
48. Belgrade International Film Festival ?Fest? 2020
20. Arab Film Festival Rotterdam 2020
1. Independent Iraqi Film Festival 2020
3. Seattle Arab Film Festival 2020
11. Malmö Arab Film Festival 2020
16. Arabisches Filmfestival Tübingen 2020
14. Journées du cinéma Suisse 2021
16. Mostra de Cinema Mundo Árabe, São Paulo, 2021
15. Human Rights Festival of San Sebastian de los Reyes, 2021
Screening Rights Film Festival Birmingham, 2022
