In a first for the Berlinale, a film from Iraq had its world premiere last evening in the Panorama section. SON OF BABYLON, co-written and directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji, is a stirring drama about coming to terms with tragedy and moving forward despite the burden of personal loss. Filmed in stark poetic set pieces, the film follows the journey of a Kurdish grandmother and her precocious grandson as they travel (mostly on foot) to discover the fate of the boy's father, who has been miss...

BEST OF BAGHDAD – THE RESURRECTION OF IRAQI CINEMAat the 26th CAMBRIDGE FILM FESTIVAL (6th–16th July 2006, Cambridge Arts Picturehouse)www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.ukIraqi Cinema has had a chequered history – from all-singing all-dancing melodramas of the 40s to lavish vanity projects funded by Saddam Hussein in the 80s to total extinction during the Gulf Wars. Now amidst the tensions of the occupation the resuscitation of Iraqi Cinema has gradually begun, heralding a new phase in the slo...

Kilometre Zero , Hiner Saleem, France, 2005The title of Hiner Saleem’s new film is used metaphorically to explain that in the 80 years of Iraqian modern history there has been virtually no progress. Saleem who fled Iraq under Saadam Hussein claims , “when you start from zero, the only direction to go is forward”. In real life Saleem’s brother was taken against his will on the way to the bakery one day and inducted into the Iraqian army. Saleem did not return to Kurdistan until the fall...

TURTLES CAN FLY won the GOLDEN SHELL FOR BEST FILM at San Sebastian.Bahman Ghobadi, (the director's) Statement.Three days after the collapse of Saddam, I went to Baghdad to show my film Songs of my motherland as it was being released. Just as the superpowers were sending heavy weaponry to Iraq, my purpose was, on a symbolic level, to contribute artistically to what was going on.With the small DV camera I was carrying, I shot for a few weeks what I had witnessed in Baghdad, as well as in the othe...