“More and more people want to tell their stories”: in Iraq, directors dream of a new lease of life for the film industry

Driven by the international success of the film The President’s Cake and a new generation of directors, Iraqi cinema hopes to regain its dynamism, despite a lack of financing, infrastructure and qualified professionals. A few kilometers from the old dark rooms of Baghdad, now abandoned, director Ali al-Bayati is shooting his next film, which he hopes to present internationally.

“Reviving the cinema sector by Irak is not easy, but it is not impossible »he told AFP, while cameramen adjusted their focal length to shoot a scene from this horror film which should be released before the end of the year. Film production in Iraq began in the 1940s, with co-productions notably with Egypt, culminating in the 1950s. This period was notably marked by the film Said Effendi (1956) by Kameran Hosni, a work recently restored as part of the project Iraqi Cinemathequesupported by France, and screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2025.

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But with the coming to power of Saddam Hussein in the 1970s, cinema was put at the service of his propaganda, and after the fall of the dictator, sectarian violence and the rise of jihadist groups hindered a resumption of production. In the historic heart of Baghdad, the old theaters that once attracted moviegoers are mere shadows of their former selves. Faded facades, broken signs: several cinemas have been transformed into warehouses. A few faded posters remain here and there on the walls.

“We must earn the trust of the Iraqi public”

But in recent years, the return of relative political and security stability has revived Iraqi interest in leisure and reinvigorated Baghdad’s cultural scene. Symbol of this renewed interest, The President’s Cakedirected by Hasan Hadi and awarded last year at Cannes, recently began screening in Iraq. The film tells the story of a little girl tasked with baking a cake for Saddam Hussein’s birthday at a time when international sanctions made access to the necessary ingredients almost impossible.

To support this new cinematic momentum, the authorities launched last year a support program for 58 film projects. Its budget, of around four million euros, remains modest: in other countries, such a sum would only finance one large-scale project, underlines Wareth Kwaish, responsible for this initiative. The government is also working to recover archives of Iraqi cinema and has signed cooperation agreements with France to support the development of the sector. Ali al-Bayati, who benefited from the public aid program, now hopes to distribute his film in the United States and Europe. But first, he said, “we must gain the trust of the Iraqi public in order to generate income to ensure the sustainability of production”.

For the moment, infrastructure remains limited: screenings are mainly concentrated in multiplexes in shopping centers, where Hollywood and Egyptian productions dominate the bill. Syrian documentarian Abdulhadi al-Rakeb, author of a film on the old Iraqi cinemas, believes that their disappearance has contributed to the erosion of cinema culture. Their closure resulted in “the disappearance of a culture of watching films in theaters and, consequently, a decline in the very idea of ​​making cinema”he told AFP.

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A lack of experienced local teams

Despite these efforts, filming a film in Iraq remains fraught with pitfalls, as was the case with President’s Cake. Its director explains in particular that he called on European technicians, due to a lack of experienced local teams. “The local teams did not master international standards”but at the same time the foreign teams knew little about the Iraqi cultural context, which created “more difficulties”summarizes Hasan Hadi.

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According to him, this lack of qualified technicians is among the main obstacles that still prevent many Iraqi directors from working in their own country. To sustainably develop the sector, Hasan Hadi calls for the implementation of training and an increase in funding. “More and more people want to tell their stories and make films, but resources remain insufficient”notes Hasan Hadi, who nevertheless says he “cautiously optimistic”.