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Thousands of people imprisoned without charges or trials, almost 300 death penalties, multiple attacks on journalists: it is difficult to assert human rights in Iraq and filming a documentary is not much easier. Ten young filmmakers did it nonetheless.

Eight years after the downfall of Saddam Hussein, the situation of human rights in Iraq is still precarious. In 2011, Amnesty International reports of instability, of violence by armed groups against members of religious and ethnic minorities, women, journalists and lawyers. People who make use of their right to free speech are attacked, artists are unable to practice their profession.

The German Institute for Human Rights and the Goethe-Institut conducted the documentary film project Human Rights Matter in Iraq for several months to draw attention to the situation in Iraq and to sensitize young Iraqi filmmakers for the subject. After an Iraq-wide call for bids in summer of 2010, a jury selected ten young filmmakers from over sixty applicants. Together with Anna Würth, human rights expert from the German Institute for Human Rights, and the British-Iraqi filmmaker Kasim Abid, they approached the subject matter of human rights in a workshop. Later they focused on creating films based on the ideas they submitted with their applications.


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Still, it is not easy to find subjects who will speak about human rights violations in front of the camera. “In the present situation in Iraq, it is dangerous to even carry a camera,” says Kasim Abid, founder of the Independent Film & Television College, Bagdad, whose documentary film Life after the Fall won the main prize of the Munich International Documentary Film Festival. “The camera is like a weapon – you always have to be aware of that.”

Not all of the ten filmmakers were able to realize their ideas; only four documentary films were ultimately produced. The resulting films are moving stories about freedom of the press, women’s rights, discrimination and ecological devastation. “We consider the mere fact that these four films were made a success. We hope that these films will be seen and talked about in Iraq as well as in other Arabic-speaking countries,” says Bettina Hildebrand from the German Institute for Human Rights. In spring of 2011 they were presented, for instance, at the Travelling Documentary Film Festival in Bagdad, Basra and Erbil.

Two of the films received awards at the 4th Gulf Film Festival: Charcoal and Ashes, by Hussein Mohsin Al Sahyu from Basra, shows the consequences of the poverty and life-threatening conditions of workers making charcoal from wood in the district of Babil. Sing your Song by Omar Falah from Al-Nasiriyah, is a portrait of a singer who can no longer practice his profession due to the present political situation. “I hope that this award gives them the self-confidence of established young filmmakers,” says Kasim Abid, “and encourages them further to address topics that need to be discussed.”


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Approximately three million widows live in Iraq – most of them far under the poverty level. In The Widow, Hassanain al Hani from Kerbela tells the story of a young woman who lost her husband to a car explosion and is now fighting for daily survival.

253 Iraqi journalists have lost their lives in Iraq since 2003. Speak your Mind by Emad Ali Abbas from Bagdad tells the personal stories of three Iraqi journalists. One of them, a former photographer for Reuters, was thrown into prison by American troops due to a mistaken identity. A second is now in a wheelchair after being the victim of an attack while filming. A journalist from another agency was kidnapped, released and then received death threats almost constantly. She was forced to leave Iraq in October 2010.

“Prizes for two of the films are tremendous successes for the filmmakers,” says Anna Würth, “but they do not change the objective conditions under which they work.” Nonetheless it is important in the current situation in Iraq to find people who are willing to tell their stories in front of the camera. “The Iraqi public needs to be informed about human rights issues,” according to Kasim Abid, “and documentary films give the people a voice.”

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