Son of Babylon

Colour, 35 mm
Iraq, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, 2009, 90 min
Section: Special Events

Synopsis

Northern Iraq, 2003, soon after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Twelve-year-old Ahmed and his grandmother set out on a difficult journey to southern Iraq where prisoners of war and political prisoners have been released from incarceration. Ahmed’s father did not return from the Gulf War in 1991 and the old woman is convinced that she will find her son among them. On their journey from the mountains of Kurdistan to Babylon they meet people in similar (all too often dire) straits. The boy tries to understand his grandmother’s desire to find her son, and he faithfully follows her on a journey to meet the father he has never known. Ahmed wants to become a soldier, but perhaps this miserable journey will irreversibly change his mind.... The film authentically evokes the atmosphere of Iraq just after liberation. Narrated simply and discreetly, the story recalls Iranian film traditions and has been shot with sensitivity for the deep sorrow stemming from atrocities committed by Hussein’s regime. The movie was shown to appreciative audiences at Sundance and Berlin.

About the director

Mohamed Al-Daradji (b. 1978, Baghdad), screenwriter and director, graduated in theater direction in Baghdad. Later he studied film and television production in the Netherlands, and there he worked as a cameraman on documentaries and television news reports. He then continued his studies in camerawork and direction at the Northern Film School in Leeds, where he garnered the prestigious Kodak Student Award. After the collapse of Saddam’s regime he returned to Iraq to shoot his first feature Ahlaam (2005). Portraying three decades of dictatorship, the film was screened at more than 125 festivals (including Karlovy Vary) and took more than 20 awards. His next film, Son of Babylon (2009), screened at Sundance and took two awards at the Berlinale: the Amnesty International Prize and the Peace Film Award. Al-Daradji has finished work on the feature length documentary Iraq: War, Love, God and Madness.