BAGHDAD MESSI
Belgium | 2023 | Arabic dialogue with English subtitles l 88 min
SYNOPSIS
Iraq. Hamoudi (11) lives for football and his dream of being as outstanding as his hero Lionel Messi. One day, when he is unintentionally involved in an attack, he wakes up in hospital with only one leg. While his parents do everything to keep the family safe, Hamoudi fights to achieve his dream in spite of everything.
Nordic premiere
Screening: April 25th 18:00 Panora 1
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CAST & CREDITS
Director: Sahim Omar Kalifa
Writer: Kobe Van Steenberghe
Cast: Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah, Zahraa Ghandour, Atheer Adel, Safa Najem, Adil Abdulrahman, Hussein Hassan
Dop: Anton Mertens
Producer: Hendrik Verthé, Kobe Van Steenberghe
SAHIM OMAR KALIFA
Born 1980 Zakho, Iraqi Kurdistan, is a Belgian-Kurdish filmmaker based in Belgium. In 2001, he came toBelgium, and in 2008 he got his Master’s degree in filmmaking at Sint-Lukas Film School, Brussels. Kalifa has won 96 international awards with his short films Land of the Heroes, Baghdad Messi, and Bad Hunter. The biggest achievements so far are: A-Jury Prize as Best Short film for ‘Land of the heroes’ at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival – Generation. B- ‘Baghdad Messi’ was shortlisted for the 87th Academy awards, the Oscars. It was one of the 10 finalists. C- ‘Bad Hunter’ was also shortlisted for the 88th Academy awards, the Oscars. ‘Bad Hunter’ won also several international Awards at some important film festivals, like Jury Award at 59th Valladolid, 38th Montreal World, Dubai IFF and Flickerfest International Film Festival. 2014, Sahim was chosen in Istanbul as Best Kurdish film director. In 2016 Sahim became a member of the Academy Awards ‘ The Oscars’. He can vote for the Oscar awards summer 2016, Sahim had filmed his debut film ‘Zagros’ which has been supported by Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds (VAF), Dutch Film Fund and Eurimages.