Homeland (Iraq Year Zero): Before the Fall

DIRECTOR: Abbas Fahdel   COUNTRIES: Iraq, France   YEAR: 2015   LANGUAGE(S): Arabic  SUBTITLES: English   RUNNING TIME: 161 min  

SECTION: International Competition 2015

SYNOPSIS

What an epic! In two chapters, Iraqi filmmaker Abbas Fahdel depicts the events before and after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and at the same time provides the basis for understanding the current situation in the Arab world.

The film is divided into two parts – “Before the Fall” and “After the Battle” – which portray the inner workings of Iraqi society and make clear how the fall of the dictatorship also shattered the structures of communal living, without creating new foundations.

The director and his camera accompany his friends and family over the course of two years. Until the actual invasion, war feels like a distant possibility and yet preparations are taken by a war-versed population: wells are dug in the garden and the tape on the windows is renewed from 1991 to keep the glass from shattering during mortar attacks. This is daily life in a dictatorship. When there are family parties, Saddam’s televised speeches are switched off, and generally politics play hardly any role in the life of the adults, let alone that of the children. The tone changes when the Americans march in. Helicopters circle overhead, shots ring day and night. People now talk of the cruelties of Saddam Hussein’s fallen regime, but the present does not offer any footholds. Women cannot go out onto the streets alone anymore. Visiting friends becomes a life-threatening exercise. “Our future,” say people on the streets “is not getting better“. In the rubble and smoke, a society without hope becomes visible.

ABBAS FAHDEL
Abbas Fahdel, born in Babylon, Iraq has been based in France since the the age of 18. He holds a Ph.D. in Cinema from Sorbonne University. In January 2002, he returned to Iraq and filmed a documentary film, BACK TO BABYLON. The country’s dramatic situation is the background of this introspective investigation. One year later, in February 2003, when a new war seemed imminent, Fahdel returned to Iraq with the intention of filming his family and friends. When the war started, he returned to France and lost all contact with his family. Two months later, he again returned to Iraq and discovered a country shaken by violence, the nightmare of dictatorship replaced by chaos. This historical moment is the theme of his second documentary film, WE IRAQIS. In 2008, he directed the feature film DAWN OF THE WORLD, a war-drama in which he gives an unexpected account of the multiple impacts of the Gulf Wars and how they have dramatically damaged Iraq. In April he won the prestigious Visions du Réel film festival with HOMELAND (IRAQ YEAR ZERO).

FILMOGRAPHY
Back to Babylon (2002), We Iraqis (2004), Dawn of the World (2008), Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) (2015)

PRODUCER: Abbas Fahdel   CAMERA: Abbas Fahdel  

PRODUCTION & WORLD SALES: Abbas Fahdel