- Mohamed Al-Daradji
-
Mohamed Al-Daradji
Mohammed Al-Darraji (born 6 August 1978 in Baghdad, Iraq) is an Iraqi Dutch film director. Al-Daradji is a dual Dutch-Iraqi citizen. He studied theatre directing in Baghdad and fled to The Netherlands in 1995, where he specialised as a cameraman. Later he graduated with two MA's in cinematography and directing in Leeds at The Northern Film School[1]. He created many several short films and commercials winner the Kodak student award for commercials.
In 2005 he established Human Film a Leeds based production company with his producer Isabelle Stead.
One of his first features was Ahlaam, which took him four months to film in 2004, in Baghdad while the war was going on and it was very difficult to film as electricity would often cut off from time to time. Near to the end of filming, he claims that he and three members of his crew were kidnapped but managed to escape from being killed by insurgents, who accused them of making a propaganda film supporting the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. The captors were preparing to shoot them before they fled from the sound of police sirens. On the same day, they were said to have been abducted again from a Baghdad hospital by another group of gunmen who beat them up and then turned them over to the U.S. military, who held them in harsh conditions for six days on suspicion they were filming insurgent attacks for Al Qaida.
His 2010 film Son of Babylon that he developed through the Sundance Institute was selected as the Iraqi entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards,[2] but it did not make the final shortlist.[3]
In 2008, Mohamed became a Sundance fellow.
In 2010 Variety named Mohamed Al-Daradji The Middle East Filmmaker of the year. "We wanted to honour Mohamed Al Daradji, not because he is a great Middle Eastern filmmaker, but because he is simply a great filmmaker.” (Tim Gray, the editor of Variety
Contents
Filmography
- 2009 - Son of Babylon
- 2005 - Ahlaam
- 2003 - No. 438
- 2003 - The war
Awards
- 2010 Variety's Middle Eastern Filmmaker of the Year 2010
- 2010 Seattle International Film Festival, Emerging Master
- 2006: Brooklyn International Film Festival Spirit Award for Ahlaam
References
- ^ Mohamed Al-Daradji: “Every Iraqi has ten stories for ten films” the Beaver, newspaper of the LSE Students' Union
- ^ "Son of Babylon selected as Iraq's entry for Oscar race". Screendaily. http://www.screendaily.com/news/africa-middle-east-news/son-of-babylon-selected-as-iraqs-entry-for-oscar-race/5015856.article. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
- ^ "9 Foreign Language Films Continue to Oscar Race". oscars.org. http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2011/20110119.html. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
External links
Categories:- 1978 births
- Living people
- Iraqi film directors
- People from Baghdad
- Dutch people of Iraqi descent
- Iraqi Shi'a Muslims
- Iraqi people stubs
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