Synopsis
On the 15th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, MIRRORS OF DIASPORA explores themes of exile, creativity, identity, and war told through the lives of seven Iraqi artists living outside the country of their birth for close to half a century. This ambitious project explores their challenges, failures and successes, both as artists and in their private lives: from when they graduated from art school in the 1970s, worked as street artists in the piazzas in Italy, to becoming well-known. The central question the film poses is: What are the consequences of spending most of one’s life in exile?and war told through the lives of seven Iraqi artists living outside the country of their birth for close to half a century. The artists featured in this documentary belong to a group known as ‘Iraqi Artists in Exile’. Filmed over three decades, this ambitious project explores their challenges, failures and successes, both as artists and in their private lives: from the time they graduated from art school in the 1970s, working as street artists in the piazzas of Rome and Florence, to becoming well-known. The central question the film poses is: what are the consequences of spending most of one’s life in exile? At a time of unprecedented global migration when barely a day passes without a tragic story played out in the international media, ‘Mirrors of Diaspora’ contributes to greater understanding of one of the defining issues of our time.
Director and Producer: Kasim Abid
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Countries: Iraq, UK
Duration: 88 min
2018
Kasim Abid is an award-winning Iraqi filmmaker, director, producer, and the cameraman of all his films. He graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad and holds an MA from VGIK-All-Union State Institute of Cinematography from Moscow. He is the co-founder of Independent Film and Television College; a non-governmental Baghdad-based free-of-charge film training college whose graduates won several prestigious awards. Kasim taught Film Directing and Cinematography in countries including Britain, Jordan, Sudan, and Palestine (Jerusalem, Gaza, and Birzeit). He was a jury member at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Film Festival and the 2013 Ismailia International Film Festival, and he organized two Iraq-based film festivals in 2011 and 2012.