Iraqi Odyssey

Switzerland, Iraq, Germany

Producers: Werner Schweizer

Production Company: Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion AG

Project Logline:

Car bombs. Sobbing veiled women. Dusty and destroyed landscapes. These are the images of present-day Iraq in the West. But memories of an Iraqi middle-class family of the ’50s and ’60s would include readings of modern poetry, movies with frivolous music, women studying and men in elegant suits. How is it possible that Iraq, once so modern, changed so dramatically? Samir tells the story of his now-globalized Iraqi middle-class family, scattered in Auckland, Moscow, New York and London.

Samir was born in Baghdad in 1955 and grew up in Switzerland. He has made more than 40 films, including The Train Station and Its Angel (2010), Snow White (2005), Forget Baghdad (2002), Die Jagd nach dem Tod (1999), Die Metzger (1996), Tödliche Schwesterliebe (1996) and Babylon 2 (1993). He is well known for his innovative works of video and electronic cinema. His films have received national and international awards. He is currently working on the feature Café Abu Nawas.