DIFF has added a new section, Iraqi Legacy: Children of the Future, which will screen six short films from Iraq’s new generation of filmmakers.

Most of the films are affiliated with the Iraqi Independent Cinema Centre (IICC), established by Iraqi filmmakers Mohamed Al Daradji (Son Of Babylon) and Oday Rasheed (Qarantina).

Two of the six Iraqi Legacy shorts are screening in the Muhr Arab Shorts competition – Meedo Ali’s Children Of War, which offers a child’s perspective on war through the drawings of an Iraqi orphan, and Ahmed Yassin’s Children Of God, about a young boy attempting to win the heart of the goalkeeper of a girls’ football team.

The other shorts are Mohanad Hayal’s Happy Birthday, Yahya Al-Allaq’s War Canister, Luay Fadhil Abbas’ Lipstick and Nesma’s Birds, from Medoo Ali and Najwan Ali, the only film in the programme that features a female filmmaker.

“The Iraqi Legacy programme honours the spirit of these artists who have persevered despite odds that most of us cannot even begin to imagine,” said DIFF artistic director Masoud Amralla Al Ali.

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