The day before the highly-acclaimed Iraqi Film “Son of Babylon” was set to have its eagerly awaited Jordanian premiere — opening the Franco-Arab Film Festival in Amman — the festival’s organizers told the filmmakers that they would not allow the director’s letter to be read to the audience.
The festival pulled the film moments before its premiere leaving audiences angered and incensed.
The customary letter in question from director Mohamed Al-Daradji made apologies for the director’s absence. It also informed the audience that the film and its associated Iraq’s Missing People’s campaign (IMC) petition have been launched in an effort to raise awareness about the hundreds of thousands of missing Iraqis who have disappeared in Iraq over the past 40 years.
Al-Daradji’s “Son of Babylon,” the highly-acclaimed Berinlale multi award-winning feature film, takes the audience on a journey through Iraq in 2003. Saddam Hussein has fallen and on hearing the news that prisoners of war are found alive in the south. Ahmed, a young boy and his grandmother, Um Ibrahim, set out to uncover the fate of the boy’s father, one of the many soldiers who never returned home after the 1991 Gulf War.
From the mountains of the north to the southern sands of Babylon, as his grandmother struggles to accept an awful truth, Ahmed retraces the footsteps of a father he never knew.
The film is a sensitive road movie that shows with iconic images and situations, the search for healing after a reign of terror and war in a devastated country. Despite the tragic circumstances of the film, its lighter, more humorous moments arouse compassion. The film invites hope for reconciliation in Iraq that audiences globally are connecting with.
The IMC’s petition, an initiative of the Iraq’s Missing Peoples Organization, was founded by the production companies: Human Film company and Iraq Al-Rafidian who during the research of their film realized that no international organizations were successfully raising awareness about Iraq’s missing people.
The contents of the letter and the petition have already been read and commended by the international film community at festivals such as Seattle IFF, Serbia, Berlin, Sundance and Edinburgh IFF, Rabat IFF 2010. All have supported the filmmakers’ passion and commitment to the message of their film as they break new ground globally for social impact fiction films.
The Franco-Arab Film festival wrote, “We came to the conclusion that reading your letter as such and spreading the petition was not relevant within our event…it’s not the right place.”
The festival went on to write that it “was political…and not related to cinema,” choosing to ignore the filmmakers voices and humanitarian intent.
The festivals’ decision has saddened and disappointed the filmmakers who have worked hard for four years to bring this film and its message to light. Ironically it appears that the stand taken by the organizers of the festival is in fact political.
Meanwhile the filmmakers are now planning to host an independent screening of “Son of Babylon” and fundraiser for the IMC in Jordan.
