Cinema shines light of defiance in Iraq

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By Natalia Antelava BBC News, Baghdad Festival organisers want to remind Iraqis of the power of art

They've called it cinema of defiance.

Iraqi filmmakers are determined to show that even in conflict, art can thrive.

And to prove the point, they have been screening the films at the sites where bombs exploded around Baghdad.

"From these places that have been attacked by terrorists we want to send a message that in Iraq cinema, culture and civilization are still alive," says Husam al-Sharam, one of the organisers of Baghdad's first travelling cinema festival.

Behind him, dozens of people gathered to watch two short films projected on a makeshift screen set up in front of the towering remains of the foreign ministry building.

In August there was a devastating explosion that killed more than 100 people at this spot.

Weary

Since then, there have been three other similar attacks elsewhere in Baghdad, which were also turned into venues for the Baghdad cinema festival.

People don't really like Iraqi films, they prefer to watch movies that provide a bit of distraction from their everyday life, and that's very problematic for us Husam al SharamFestival organiser

There were plenty of empty chairs at the showing, and organisers say not many people attended the events.

But they believe this is not only because Iraqis are still wary of going out in the dark.

All of the films they have shown have been filmed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, and all of them deal with the reality of living and surviving in Baghdad.

"People don't really like Iraqi films, they prefer to watch movies that provide a bit of distraction from their everyday life, and that's very problematic for us," says Mr Sharam.

That is hardly the only problem facing the Iraqi cinema.

The overthrow of Saddam Hussein gave Iraqi filmmakers a kind of artistic freedom they never had before, but it left the movie industry in ruins. And violence has been a major constraint.

Film shoot

Only three full length feature films have been made in Iraq since 2003.

The screenings have been poorly attended

The director of Personal Calendar, a nine-minute film shown at the Foreign Ministry bombsite says he had only four hours to shoot it.

The film is set in a Baghdad public bus, and it tells a story of a quarrel between a Sunni, Shia and a Kurd, who cannot agree on anything, including what day of the week it is.

"My cast had Sunnis, Shias and Kurds, but we were supposed to go all around Baghdad and we could not, because it was too dangerous for them to go into different neighbourhoods," says Bashir al-Majid, the director.

"So we filmed the whole thing in four hours just on one road."

Mr Majid had a chance to show the film at festivals around the world, but it was special, he said, to share it with the people of Baghdad.

The street where it was shown was lined with candles, lit to remember those who have died.

But the event itself, filmmakers hope, will also remind Iraqis that its important for their cinema to survive.