On Saturday, August 10, 2019, "Baghdad in My Shadow" by multi-award winning director Samir will celebrate its world premiere at the 72nd Locarno International Film Festival.
The film, which also became shot in large parts at the MMC Studios was run in the Fuori Concorso section and will be at 18:30 at Palexpo (FEVI) shown. After the screening there will be a Q&A with cast and crew.
A second screening is for Sunday, August 11, 2019 at 21:00 at Cinema L'altra Sala planned. Monday, August 12, 2019 the film is then at 11:00 am at Cinema Rialto 1 presents.
About the content:
London, shortly before Christmas. The Iraqi writer and night watchman TAUFIQ (55) is struggling with feelings of guilt. Years earlier in Iraq, he had betrayed his own brother under torture. His son Naseer knows nothing about it, and Taufiq has taken care of him as if he were his own son. But Naseer is becoming increasingly radicalized and distancing himself more and more from his uncle. The radical Islamists around hate preacher Yasin have made him their slave. Taufiq is alarmed. As a former communist, he has nothing to do with Islam.
Even Taufiq's friends in his favorite café can't help him. The Café ABU NAWAS is the meeting place of a small Iraqi community. Taufiq recites his poetry here and mourns old ideals with his communist friends. The regulars are united by their humor and their art of living, and the younger exiled Iraqis have also found a new home here.
Taufiq's best friend AMAL (35) works in the café. The attractive architect from Baghdad had pretended to be a persecuted Christian in order to get asylum in England. Still in Iraq, she had left her violent husband AHMED (45) when she found out that he was working for Saddam Hussein's secret service. Only Taufiq knows that she is married and living under a false identity in the UK. When her ex-husband Ahmed suddenly appears in London, Amal's life is in danger.
MUHANAD (25) has also found a second home in the café. The homosexual computer scientist had to fear for his life in Baghdad and has only recently arrived in London as an asylum seeker. Taufiq and his friends get him small computer jobs. He keeps his German lover SVEN (30) a secret from them.
Taufiq wants to win back the trust of his nephew Naseer. He offers to teach him the Arabic script and visits the radical Islamist mosque together with Naseer. But a confrontation ensues between Taufiq and preacher Yasin. The godless of Café Abu Nawas and Taufiq's values are a thorn in the priest's side. Naseer must decide whose side he will take.
It is Amal's ex-husband Ahmed who succeeds in drawing Naseer to his side. Together with Yasin, he incites Naseer's followers to attack the café as a place of homosexuals and the godless. Naseer receives a special assignment from Ahmed: he is to track down and punish the adulteress Amal. She is to die for her infidelity. Only Taufiq can prevent the impending catastrophe.
For production:
Over half of the new feature film by the Iraqi-Swiss director Samir, who caused a sensation with his multi-award-winning documentary "Iraqi Odyssey" is in Cologne originated.
Of the 17 days of filming in NRW, eight were at MMC Studios. Here, the MMC Studio 50 from the MMC Equipment the Set of London cafe Abu Nawas built. The scenes in the café were shot in this set, while the exterior shots of the café took place over 7 shooting days in London in December 2017. Other locations were Zurich (5 shooting days) and Baghdad (3 shooting days).
The Script to "Baghdad in My Shadow" wrote Samir and Furat al Jamil.
Back from left to right: Ali Daeem (Ahmed), Christina Bentlage/Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Ngo The Chau/Camera, Samir/Director, Kerry Fox (Maud Robertson), Taro Bahar (Firas Kamiran), Maxim Mehmet (Sven), Zahraa Ghandour (Amal Jerjis), Lachlan Nieboer (Martin), Bastie Griese/MMC Movies, Herbert Schwering/Coin Film, Joël Jent/Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion.
Front: Meriam Abbas (Maha), Hazel O'Connor (Kate), Kae Bahar (Zeki), Awatif Salman (Samira Al-Baghdadi), Waseem Abbas (Muhanad), Christine Kiauk/Coin Film.
Go to international cast include among others Zahraa Ghandour (TIFF contribution "The Journey"), Haytham Abdulrazaq, Waseem Abbas, Ali Daeem, Maxim Mehmet ("Gotthard"), Meriam Abbas ("Homeland"), Kerry Fox ("Intimacy," "Bright Star," "Little Joe"), Ken Bones (Ridley Scott's "Exodus - Gods and Kings"), Daniel Adegboyega ("Transformers - The Last Knight," "Gone," "James Bond - Skyfall"), Felix Scott ("Inception"), Taro Bahar ("Code 46"), Lachlan Nieboer ("Into the White") and Hazel O'Connor ("Breaking Glass").
"Baghdad in My Shadow" is a production of Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion, COIN FILM, Ipso Facto Productions, SRF Swiss Radio and Television, Teleclub and MMC Movies.
The film was sponsored by Media, BAK Federal Office of Culture, Zurich Film Foundation, Suissimage, Focal Stagepool, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, DFFF - Deutscher Filmförderfonds, BFI British Film Institute Tax Credit.
Filmcoopi Zurich brings the film on November 28, 2019 into the Swiss cinemas. NFP marketing&distribution is responsible for distribution in Germany. Global Screen is responsible for world distribution.
Title Photo Credit: © Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduction
