Mohamed Al Daradji

When ISIS took their homes, families and city, one group of men fought to take it all back. Based on true events, this is the story of the Nineveh SWAT team, a renegade police unit who waged a guerrilla operation against ISIS in a desperate struggle to save their home city of Mosul.

A drama centered on the bond formed between different generations of Saudi women during a journey across the desert to Mecca. When the eldest granddaughter disappears, the grandmother travels to the north in search of the missing teenager.

Hayat, a 12-year-old strong-willed girl, lives in a poor fishing village governed by dark tradition, in which every family must give away a daughter to the sea creatures who inhabit the waters near by. In turn, the sea creatures are hunted by the men of the village. Saved from this ordeal by her father, Hayat is outcasted by her village and considered a curse. But Hayat never surrenders. When Hayat’s mother gives birth to her new-born brother, Hayat must accept the brutal custom by sacrificing herself to these creatures or find a way to escape.

In Baghdad's streets, Chum-Chum, a diabetic and dreamy nine-year-old, believes the Tigris hides a gate to Irkalla, the underworld where he can revive his lost parents. As his friend Moody is pulled into a militia plot, Chum-Chum must choose between myth and truth.

Sara enters Baghdad station with sinister intentions for its reopening ceremony. As she braces to commit an unthinkable act, her plans are drastically altered by an unwanted and awkward encounter with Salam, a self-assured and flirtatious salesman. With Salam now hostage to Sara’s confused and deluded plan, he battles desperately to appeal to her humanity and sway her decision. In a moment of consideration and with her convictions crumbling before her, Sara is given the opportunity to witness the life and innocence she was so willing to destroy. But is this a second chance or an admission of guilt?

A willful young boy follows his just and obstinate grandmother on a journey across Iraq, determined to discover the fate of her missing son, Ahmed's father, who never returned from war.

Scarred Baghdad 2003... confusion, uncertainty and death engulf the bombed ruins of a Psychiatric Asylum. Voyeuristically we move between the past and the present of three Iraqi lives entangled by the chaos of the American 'Shock and Awe' campaign...

An Iraqi soldier escaping from Kuwait as the army retreats in 1991 is captured and cast into Saddam’s infamous prisons, accused of being a traitor. Outside, an Iraqi uprising instills hope for those held captive in the killing fields of Babylon.

In 2003, Baghdad-born Mohamed Al-Daradji returned home after a decade in exile to film Ahlaam, the second feature shot in Iraq post-Saddam Hussein. This documentary follows the idealistic young director as he realises his dream in bizarre and turbulent circumstances. With its improvised form and unpredictable course, the film reflects the incredible risks confronting filmmakers in ‘liberated’ Iraq and celebrates Iraqi people’s spirit to survive amid overwhelming social and political chaos.

A tormented young man constructs an ingenious devise to rescue his father from Abu Ghraib prison. What he finds there is far from his expectations, revealing the mistreatment and torture of prisoners. His hopes and dreams for a brighter future are dashed upon finding his father.

Several children live and study in a small rented house and they have no one to help them accept for Husham, a student. When the landlord demands they leave, the children lose their only sanctuary.

In the aftermath of a tragedy a grieving mother visits the site where her son was killed. There she encounters the young boy's restless spirit, unable to make sense of his surroundings. This brief encounter will finally put the boy's spirit to rest, allowing him to join the other victims in the afterlife.

On the day of her wedding, a young girl hides from her family. The preparations and celebration, however, continue without her. The film depicts the conflict and anguish of women who face unwanted arranged marriages.