Forget Baghdad: Jews and Arabs – The Iraqi Connection

Forget Baghdad: Jews and Arabs – The Iraqi Connection
Directed by Samir
Produced by Samir
Gerd Haag
Karin Koch
Written by Samir
Starring Shimon Ballas
Moshe Houri
Music by Rabih Abou-Khalil
Cinematography Nurit Aviv
Philippe Bellaiche
Edited by Samir
Nina Schneider
Production
company
Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion AG
Distributed by Arab Film Distribution
Release dates
  • November 21, 2002 (2002-11-21) (Switzerland)
  • March 13, 2003 (2003-03-13) (Germany)
Country Germany
Switzerland
Language English
Arabic
Hebrew

Forget Baghdad: Jews and Arabs – The Iraqi Connection is a 2002 documentary film about the Mizrahim, or Jewish community of Iraq. It was written and directed by Samir, an Iraqi born in Baghdad in 1955 and living since 1961 in Switzerland.

The film focuses on five expatriate Iraqi Jews, most living in Israel: Shimon Ballas, Moshe (Moussa) Houri, Sami Michael, Samir Naqqash, and Ella Habiba Shohat.

The film's music is by Rabih Abou-Khalil. It was produced by Karin Koch and Samir and edited by Nina Schneider and Samir. The directors of photography were Nurith Aviv and Philippe Bellaiche.

The film was a coproduction between TagTraum Cologne, Gerd Haag, SF DRS, Teleclub, and Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion. It is 112 minutes in length.

The DVD, which is distributed by Arab Film Distribution, comes with a 30-minute "Making of the film" featurette. The DVD has multiple audio tracks and subtitles in English, German, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish.

Reception

See also

External links

References

  1. Forget Baghdad (2002) – Film Review; Born in Iraq, Living in Israel, Pondering Issues of Identity, by Stephen Holden, 12/5/03, at the New York Times web (nytimes.com)
  2. Film: Forget Baghdad, Directed by Samir, by Anya Kamenetz, Village Voice, 12/2/03
  3. Operation Iraqi Boredom, by V.A. Musetto, New York Post, 12/5/03
  4. Film Explores Identity, But Words Get in the Way, by Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, 4/16/04
  5. Review: ‘Forget Baghdad — Jews and Arabs: The Iraqi Connection’, by Deborah Young, Variety, 12/23/03


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