Because the U.S. post war reconstruction plan in Iraq has been grossly mishandled and has proven to be largely ineffectual, Iraqi artists and filmmakers have decided to take cultural reconstruction efforts into their own hands. Recently in Baghdad, Iraqi filmmakers unveiled the city’s first traveling film festival, showcased at sites where explosions have ruined cultural landmarks have killed hundreds of Iraqi citizens.
“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,” states Husam al-Sharam, one of the organizers of Baghdad’s first traveling cinema festival, in a recent article by the BBC.
According to the BBC article, all of the films shown have been filmed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, and all of them deal with the current reality of living and surviving in Baghdad.
The resurgence of Iraqi film, which has a rich and fruitful history, is a particularly important aspect of the devastated city’s cultural reconstruction. During the 2003 Iraq war, the majority of the country’s cultural heritage landmarks, including museums, libraries and archaeological sites were destroyed in raids by US allied forces. Although only three films have been made in Iraq since 2003, they each play an important role in rebuilding the country’s rich history and unifying the Iraqi public.