I decided a few months ago that I should leave Dubai for bit to do something worthwhile and quench my thirst for all that has to do with culture, art and cinema- three things that do not exist as of yet in Plastic Fantastic Dubai. I had a little bit of money saved up so I decided to register for a filmmaking course in the City of Lights; and lucky for me there’s a week-long Arab Film Festival happening right now with a special focus on… (drumroll please) Yes ya habaybi IRAQI CINEMA is in la maison! Some old and new films, from fiction to documentary, are being showcased for the “7eme Biennale des Cinemas Arabes a Paris” (for those of you who don’t speak French ask someone who does cause you should be able to understand that if you speak English) and this year’s festival is being held in honor of the legendary Egyptian actress Madiha Yousri. Moving along…First let me tell you a little bit about the institute that’s organizing this delicious event:

Among the fabulous sights for sore eyes like mine in the landscape of Paris is the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA): Facing the south side of the Seine river, this striking building is one of the few ultra modern looking edifices busting out of the old city. The backside of the Institute is covered with 240 huge mousharabiehs made of steel- a unique synthesis of traditional Eastern and contemporary Western concepts of design. But that’s not all… I found out while I was walking around inside that these structures are in fact light sensitive portals that are automated to expand and contract every hour according to the amount of light coming in to the building. Why? To assure that the sunlight doesn’t damage the precious artifacts within the Institute’s walls. Can you picture it? I felt like I was inside an Arab space ship if there ever was such a thing! (Speaking of which, why don’t we have a sci-fi genre in the Arab film industry yet?).

The Institute is comprised of 9 floors and houses a museum, art exhibits, a library, research facilities, a massive auditorium and a rooftop terrace with a dazzling view of Montmartre and l’Ile de la Cite. Although the collection of Middle Eastern artifacts was nowhere near as impressive as that of the Louvre, the museum is definitely worth a visit. Anyway, back to Iraqi cinema. Before I tell you about the movies I watched lets take a look at our history with film:

The first movie projected in a cinema in Iraq took place in Baghdad in 1909 but it wasn’t until 1945 that cameras started rolling in Iraq with two famous Egyptian co-productions: Cairo-Baghdad by Ahmed Badrakhan and Sons of the Orient by Niazi Mustapha. The Iraqi film industry really began to bustle by 1960.

In 1948, Baghdad Studio was founded by a couple of Iraqi producers and one film by French Director Andre Shatan, Alia Wa Issam, made the first cut. But as tensions rose in the region from the Zionism and Arab Nationalism, so did the situation at Baghdad Studio: Some of its founding members happened to be Iraqi Jews and were accused of collaborating with Israelis. The rest, as you should know girls and boys, is history.

Another studio was opened some years later- this time by actors Yass Ali Nasser and Salaheddine AlBadri. They called it Dunyat Alfann (World of the Arts). They produced the hit Fetna and Hassan in 1954, a film that received critical acclaim. Iraqi filmmakers were inspired and more flicks were produced during the 50s but they were considered mediocre and never achieved the success that Fetna did. But two aspiring Iraqi filmmakers came back from studying in the good ol’ US of A and made two films that stood out: Who Is Responsible? By Abdul Jabbar Wali and Kameran Hosni’s Sayyid Effendi revolutionized the cinema movement in Iraq.

After the revolution that booted the Hashemite Monarchy, a lot of the movies that were being produced would have made Goebbels proud. It was all about propaganda and the productions were so poor and unimaginative that more and more moviegoers steered clear from the theatres. Once the Baathists came in during the late 60s and crashed the party, true filmmaking withered and was replaced by full blown state-sanctioned productions idealizing new social reforms and glorifying that tyrant that the Yanks are handing over to us this week (I still can’t get over it!) (Forget Star Academy I wanna see Torture Island!). The most renowned was The Long Days; a (fictional!) film that nauseatingly glorifies Saddam’s rise to power starring none other than Saddam Kamel, his now dead cousin.

By now cinema was pretty much dead. The Gulf War and the UN sanctions stifled any means of producing films: New equipment, film stock and chemicals for film labs were forbidden under the new import rules.

But today is a new day and film will undoubtedly flourish under the current conditions (hopefully). We already have the first post-war movie by Uday Rasheed called Ghayr Saleh (Under Exposure) and you can check out the details of this exciting endeavor at www.underexposurethemovie.com

I’ll be back later this month with a review of some of the films I saw as well of the encounters I had with some of our artists, from actors to filmmakers, at the Biennale in Paris. So stay tuned people! Signing out from Paris 16, this is your trusty Truth Terrorist for shakomakonet.