Baghdad hopes for better film festival
Iraqi filmgoers are hoping this year’s Baghdad International Film Festival will be an improvement over last year, when low-quality films marred the event.
Baghdad is preparing for its upcoming film festival this month, with hopes it will be an improvement over last year’s disaster.
Forty-five narrative, short and documentary films were meant to be screened during the Baghdad Arab Cultural Capital festival of 2013, but by the end of the festival, only one was screened. The only narrative film that saw the light was “Baghdad, a Pink Dream” by director Faisal al-Yassiri, only to be withdrawn after the first screening in January 2014.
Opinions about the reason behind the withdrawal differed greatly. Some said that the movie glorified the era of Saddam Hussein, while others believed it was not up to standard. The speculated reasons were many, but the public and critics were not even given a chance to form an opinion.
Disputes in the Iraqi cultural backstage intensified, some of which were made public by the media. It was said that the majority of the movies were too subpar to be screened, and that the activities organized for the festival proved to be a mere joke, on which $500 million was spent.
