Our film is ready to shoot! A talented cast is lined up, we’ve got amazing locations and we’ve got some backing from film funds in Europe & the Middle East. But to reach the finish line we need additional funding to hire the Iraqi cast & crew for this independent film project - something we hope you will become a part of...
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Baghdad. Winter 2006. In a typically mixed neighbourhood, ordinary people try to live their everyday lives in spite of unpredictable sectarian violence. At night, under curfew, they remain indoors against a backdrop of mortars and gunfire…
At the heart of the story is SARA - a novelist and single mother silenced by shock and loss. Unable to write any more, all she can do now is to try and keep her 7-year old daughter REEMA from seeing what’s happening around them. But after a shooting at Reema's school, Sara must decide whether to stay or leave Baghdad, like so many others before. Her dilemma only worsens when her best friend and Christian neighbour SABIHA is forced into exile by a sectarian gang. Like her remaining neighbours, Sara must now find a way to sustain a fragile hope...
ANOTHER DAY IN BAGHDAD is an ensemble film, a multi-story narrative inspired by the real life experiences of the authors during a period of intense conflict. For a full synopsis, click here
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
"Iraqis have lived through decades of dictatorship, war and sanctions and since the invasion of 2003, ongoing extreme daily violence and chaos. Their lives are ruptured and full of loss, which there has been no breathing space to process and repair. This is the emotional context in which people get on with their daily lives in a situation where the unthinkable has become the norm, where you have to ‘act life’ as people in Sarajevo used to say.
The powerful external circumstances affect everyone and create a sense that you are living a story that is at the same time individual/personal, and collective. This is something that people in less fractured parts of the world are not acutely aware of in their own lives, but it is the way people often feel in times of war...
This film seeks to reflect this experience and is like a Persian miniature, where in every corner of the picture space, individual stories with their own trajectories are being lived simultaneously - individual, but connected, and together, describing a collective drama. The way you tell the story is part of the story." - Maysoon Pachachi
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
ANOTHER DAY IN BAGHDAD is the second collaboration between director Maysoon Pachachi and her co-writer Irada Al Jabbouri. During their previous collaboration on the critically acclaimed documentary film & book project Open Shutters Iraq: Our Feelings Took the Pictures - both discovered that people traumatised by violence can re-assert a positive sense of self & purpose through the act of being creative. This remains a key theme in the new film.
This is Maysoon’s debut fiction film. Her past documentaries have screened at numerous festivals internationally, won awards and were broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK and in France & Germany on Arte / ZDF.
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The Iraqi cast & crew of our film come from inside Iraq as well as from the Iraqi diaspora in UK, Sweden, Germany and Jordan (where some are residing as refugees).
We also have cast & crew from France, Germany, Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait and Great Britain!
Together, we've already shot a 'video pilot' of our project showing our wonderfully diverse team in action: Have a look at our test shoot here.
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We are privileged to be guaranteed post-production of our project by our existing film funders – which ensures that once shooting is done, the film will be finished to the highest standards in France & Germany. But we have a financial shortfall in relation to hiring the Iraqi cast & crew essential for this Arabic language project.
Our shortfall is GBP 40,000 (circa $53,000 USD) and this is where we hope you can help us out with a donation of any size (yes, smaller donations are important!!!)
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The film will be shown widely upon its completion - at film festivals, cinemas, via online streaming and TV broadcast.
As a supporter you will be an integral part of this global success and have the chance to receive recognition of your contribution towards our project (plus nice perks!)
We aim to contribute positively to a dynamic Arab cinema, Arab culture, the role of women in Arab societies and to bring fresh perspectives to the contemporary Iraqi narrative.
In telling ordinary people’s stories cinematically, Another Day in Baghdad also aims to bring depth to conversations about the Middle East today - whether it be bout Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine or other countries in the region threatened by conflict.
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We’ve been busy scripting, test shooting, location scouting and casting - and can’t wait to continue! As the story is set in wintertime, the timeframe to achieve our funding goal is limited though. Filming must be underway in 2018.
Some scenes of our film will be shot in Jordan - where we are thrilled to collaborate with our friends at The Imaginarium Films and with the backing of Jordan's Royal Film Commission.
In Iraq, we’re relying on the support of a wonderful team of incredibly committed creative and production personnel, who are giving it their all and whom you will find out more about as the campaign moves along.
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It's not just about the money!
Our campaign is supported greatly by telling your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours & contacts about this and by sharing this page: bit.ly/dayinbaghdad
SHARE it through Facebook
SHARE it through Twitter with our handle @AnotherdayinB
as well as SIGNING UP to our mailing list for updates on the campaign.
Payment problems? Write us here: info@anotherdayinbaghdad.com
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We’re on the road and busy at work in Europe and the Middle East! Meet some of the team:
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We are especially grateful to our wonderfully supportive coproducers in France (Patrice Nezan, Les Contes Modernes) and Germany (Alexander Ris, Neue Mediopolis) - each of whom boasts an impressive list of film & TV credits.
Enormous gratitude also goes out to the institutions that have believed in and supported our project thus far, including:
Dubai International Film Festival & IWC Schaffhausen and SANAD (UAE), Arab Fund for Arts & Culture (Lebanon), Eurimages, EAVE, CNC & Institut Francais (France), MDM & Bread for the World (Germany), Visions Sud Est (Switzerland), Media Mundus, MEDIA/Creative Europe, Producers Network Carthage (Tunisia), Cairo Film Connection (Egypt), Asian Project Market (South Korea) and British Film Institute (UK).