In April and May 2011, the Independent Film & Television College (Baghdad), with the support of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Middle East, organized a traveling film festival in Iraq where it screened 16 short documentaries made by its students.
These films, made by young Iraqis at the beginning of their filmmaking experience, all reflect upon the life of ordinary Iraqis in these extraordinary times, through which the country and its people have been living since the fall of the former regime.
The films have been shown worldwide, winning 8 prizes at Arab and international festivals, but the terrible security situation in Iraq, especially in Baghdad, had meant it had not been possible to show them to audiences inside the country. The time seemed appropriate to do so and to introduce the work of the college. These screenings were a statement of support for a new generation of Iraqi filmmakers. During the festival, open discussion sessions provided an opportunity for the students to talk about the experience of shooting their films, with all the attendant difficulties and dangers and for an open, honest exchange with the audience.
About the Independent Film & Television College
The college was set up in Baghdad in 2004 by Kasim Abid and Maysoon Pachachi, two London-based Iraqi filmmakers with long teaching, filmmaking and television experience in Europe and the Middle East; Kasim as a director, producer and director of photography and Maysoon as a director, producer and film editor.
It is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit civil society organisation. It provides free-of-charge practical training courses in filmmaking for Iraqi students, offer them equipment and support so they can continue making films after their courses have ended, help them to find possible sources of funding for these projects and inform them of other training opportunities both inside and outside the country. The college is the first of its kind in Iraq.
http://www.iftvc.org/about.htm