Iraq, United Kingdom, Palestine, Arabic - 90 min
Feature Narrative
TOTAL BUDGET
US $485,000
CONFIRMED FINANCING
US $385,000
CONFIRMED FINANCIAL PARTNERS
-Ashur International Bank
-AFAC
-Iraqi Cinema & Theater Foundation
-Melon City
-OBR Taxi
-Trash Film Production
CONTACTS
Margaret Glover
glo.mar.eli@gmail.com
+44 7813 901 977
May Odeh
may.odeh@gmail.com
+970 597 168 631
When a young Iraqi rubbish picker rescues an American sex doll from the Baghdad dumps, he crosses into a perilous red zone, where friends become enemies and nothing is certain.
Brothers Taha, 27, and As'ad, 12, rise with the first call to prayer and head for Hanging Gardens – a multi-coloured mash-up of an environmental disaster – AKA Baghdad’s municipal dump. While Taha searches for scrap metal to sell by weight, As’ad chases after US Embassy trucks, with their higher grade of trash.
One lucky day, As’ad uncovers an American sex doll, takes her home, washes and dresses her. Taha flies into a violent rage and disowns his little brother. As’ad makes a home for his American girl in an abandoned armored personnel carrier. When his friend, Amir, catches up with As’ad, he immediately spots the doll’s potential and believes it’s their duty to offer this virus-free entertainment to their male peers.
It’s not long before the local patriarch learns of this unwelcome foreigner in his closely patrolled community. As’ad just about manages to negotiate a clear path between his friend’s enterprising scheme and the patriarch’s fundamentalism until the American girl goes missing. A frantic search begins. The patriarch’s henchmen grab As’ad and Amir before they can find the doll. As punishment, the patriarch dismantles Amir’s café and abuses As’ad for his own pleasure.
The idea dates back to the time the Americans occupied Iraq. I witnessed the chaos, and during the civil war and the militia-controlled life in Baghdad, my friend Atheer asked me to accompany him to a safe place. Atheer carefully opened a bag; it was an American sex toy. He had gotten it from a relative who worked for the US military. It was the first time in our lives that we’d seen such a creature. Not long after that, another friend washed the sex toy with boiling water! The toy shrank beyond recognition and use. Atheer’s fledgling business stopped before it ever really got started.
This story led me to explore in depth the problems of historical cultural confrontation of a society isolated from the world for 12 years due to war, politics and dictatorship. The transition that Iraqi society has been undergoing since 2003 is completely surreal. My purpose in making this film is to bring audiences – both in Iraq and around the world – face to face with what the people, on whom my characters are based, have been going through in real life.
We are thrilled to be back in El Gouna Film Festival, three years after Margaret and May met and shared their enthusiasm for this uniquely Iraqi story told with a spirit of independence by Iraqis themselves. The dramatic subject matter combined with truly strong and captivating characters provides an intimate and surprising portrait of life in Baghdad now. Despite a complex and at times overwhelming shoot in Spring 2021, Ahmed and his DoP, Duraid Munajim, have delivered exciting material on this delicate and difficult topic, with great first-time actors. We’ve received invaluable feedback from Venice International Film Festival, where the film won the 2021 Final Cut in Venice Workshop's jury prize for the Best Film in Post Production. The footage is now in the expert hands of our editor, Kamal El Mallakh, yet we lack the funds to complete the film. We are looking forward to meeting potential partners, sales agents and festival programmers.
Huda Al Kadhimi - Ishtar Iraq Film Production
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Margaret Glover
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