{"id":198017,"date":"2026-07-09T10:32:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T10:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/198017\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T10:32:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T10:32:33","slug":"iraqs-film-industry-sees-slow-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/198017\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq\u2019s film industry sees slow revival"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAGHDAD
\n\"Iraq\u2019s<\/p>\n

In the heart of old Baghdad, legendary movie theaters stand abandoned and shrouded in dust, bearing witness to Iraq<\/a>\u2019s once-vibrant cultural scene.<\/p>\n

A few kilometers away, director Ali al-Bayati oversees his camera operators as they adjust their lenses for a scene in his upcoming horror film, which he hopes to showcase internationally as a new generation of Iraqi filmmakers drives an industry comeback.<\/p>\n

Momentum is building, bolstered by recent international recognition for the Iraqi film \u201cThe President\u2019s Cake,\u201d which captures life under crippling sanctions during Saddam Hussein\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cReviving the cinema<\/a> sector in Iraq is not easy, but it is not impossible either,\u201d Bayati told AFP.<\/p>\n

For decades, Iraq\u2019s cultural and cinematic scenes flourished.<\/p>\n

Film production in Iraq began in the 1940s \u2014 notably with titles co-produced with Egypt \u2014 reaching its peak in the 1950s.<\/p>\n

Among the most celebrated productions of that era was Kameran Hosni\u2019s film \u201cSaid Effendi\u201d (1956), a work recently restored as part of the Iraqi Cinematheque project supported by France, and screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2025.<\/p>\n

But then everything changed.<\/p>\n

With Saddam Hussein\u2019s rise to power in the 1970s, cinema became a propaganda tool.<\/p>\n

This was followed by decades of war, sectarian strife and jihadist insurgency after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Hussein, ultimately snuffing out the golden age of Iraqi cinema.<\/p>\n

Baghdad\u2019s old movie theatres that once drew film enthusiasts are now barely standing, with their faded walls, old doors and broken signs.<\/p>\n

Dilapidated shops crowd the entrance to the Granada Cinema, with clothes hanging directly on the street. Other theatres have been repurposed as warehouses, with a few old movie posters still clinging to their walls.<\/p>\n

In recent years, a fragile stability has begun to revive Iraqis\u2019 appetite for entertainment and returned focus to Baghdad\u2019s cultural scene.<\/p>\n

Authorities seized the opportunity last year, launching an initiative to support 58 film projects.<\/p>\n

But the funding pool is just four million dollars, an amount that would fund only a single project in other countries, said Wareth Kwaish of the government-led initiative.<\/p>\n

Authorities are also working to recover Iraq\u2019s historic cinema archive in the country and abroad.<\/p>\n

And Baghdad has signed cinematic cooperation agreements with France to support its film industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, the industry remains short on funding and support, making every production a gamble.<\/p>\n

Filmmakers rely on small grants, said Bayati, who hopes to market his movie in the U.S. and European countries and is among those who benefited from government funding.<\/p>\n

The key for him is gaining the trust of Iraqi audiences to \u201cgenerate revenues that would lead to sustainability in work and production,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Most Iraqi moviegoers today frequent multi-screen theatres in shopping malls where Hollywood and Egyptian movies dominate the screens, rather than the classic venues.<\/p>\n

Syrian filmmaker Abdulhadi al-Rakeb, who made a documentary about Iraq\u2019s old movie theatres, said their closure has led to \u201cthe disappearance of a culture of watching films in theatres and, as a result, a decline in the very idea of filmmaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently, \u201cThe President\u2019s Cake,\u201d the Iraqi film that won a prize at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival last year, finally started screening in Iraq.<\/p>\n

The movie follows the story of a young girl selected to bake a cake for Saddam\u2019s birthday at a time when sanctions made it almost impossible to find the ingredients.<\/p>\n

Although the movie was shot in Iraq, the production faced many challenges.
Director Hasan Hadi said a shortage of experienced Iraqi film crews forced him to bring in European professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe local crew were not aware of international standards,\u201d and the foreign crew were unfamiliar with the local cultural context, which created \u201cmore problems for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Hadi, the lack of local crews is one of several reasons Iraqi filmmakers have been unable to work in their own country.<\/p>\n

He believes the sector needs workshops to develop local talent, increased funding and better overall organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am cautiously optimistic,\u201d Hadi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more people who want to tell their stories and make films, but not enough resources.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAGHDAD In the heart of old Baghdad, legendary movie theaters stand abandoned and shrouded in dust, bearing witness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[17050,25436,94],"class_list":["post-198017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-cinema","tag-film-industry","tag-iraq"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116889566979406093","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}