Crossing the dust

Description

It is April 9, 2003, and Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad's Fardous Square has just been toppled. Two Kurdish soldiers - Asad and Rashid - celebrate with their comrades before being ordered to take food supplies to another area. As they travel, they find a lost five-year- old Iraqi boy named Saddam (a beggar child that the director found and decided to cast). Asad, the gentler and more optimistic one, decides they should find the boy's parents. However, the name triggers a kind of Pavlovian response in Rashid and he refuses at first to help Asad. The film begins with a text explaining that many parents took the name, Saddam, as it guaranteed favours from the government. But this had the reverse effect once Saddam fell from power. Shawkat Amin Korki's debut was shot in Iraq soon after the American troops arrived in Baghdad. Much of the footage captured the elation - albeit short- lived - following Saddam's fall. Awards/Festivals: Winner Best Director, Silver Screen Awards, Singapore International Film Festival 2007. Winner NETPAC Award 2007; Asia Pacific Screen Awards Achievement in Director; First Feature Competition Special Jury Mention in Cinefan - Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema 2007; Cairo International Film Festival 2006; Milan African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival 2007; Refugee Film Festival 2008; Tubingen Arabisches Film Festival 2010.

Runtime

72 min

Series

Subjects

Geography

Genre

Date of Publication

2006

Database

Alexander Street

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