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Um-Hussein (Mother Hussein) Human Film UK Writer/director Mohamed Al-Daradji Producer Isabelle Jayne Stead Producer Dimitri de Clercq 30 • NPP 2008 Synopsis Southern Iraq, 1991. The American army suddenly appears, casting a long shadow over Saddam Hussein’s bloody regime. Hussein, a Kurdish soldier in the Iraqi army, staggers out of a brutal military intervention, his wounded friend’s body slumped over his shoulder. Covered in dirt, sweat and blood, the two men are on their way home. Exhausted, they stop to spend the night beside a campfire in the desert. Hussein pulls out a flute and plays the lyrical melody he’s written for his soon-to-be-born son. At dawn, an Iraqi military Jeep suddenly looms up. Hussein approaches and, desperate to shield his injured buddy, is mistakenly taken for a rebel. He’s immediately arrested and carted off to prison… Northern Iraq, 2003. Two weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein. News spreads that several prisoners of war have been found alive in the south. Um-Hussein, a frail old woman dressed in black, and Ahmed, her 12-year-old grandson, trudge along a dusty mountain road. She’s on a mission, determined to find the son who’s never returned from the war… Her only son: Hussein. As these two forgotten souls traipse across the battered landscape, hitching rides with strangers and crossing paths with fellow travellers on all too similar missions, their journey runs parallel to that of Hussein so many years before. Their stories intertwine… As the captive is shuttled from one prison to the next, steeling himself against the agonies and despair that await him at every turn, his mother gradually comes to witness the true horrors of a senseless war run amok. And Ahmed, who so yearns for the father he’s never met, picks up his flute and plays Hussein’s once unfinished tune… a tune that drifts across the vast Iraqi desert. Director’s statement Not a single Iraqi family remains untouched by Saddam Hussein’s horrific killing fields. To date, more than 300 mass graves have been excavated in Iraq. The most recent excavation uncovered a grave of 1,500 Kurdish people. An estimated one million people are still missing. Today, thousands of families continue to search for loved ones who disappeared under Saddam Hussein’s bloody, 35-year dictatorship. Um-Hussein is a deeply personal story, somewhat inspired by my own aunt, who also lost a son under Saddam’s regime. The film spans three generations of one family. It follows the stories of a Kurdish soldier, and the elderly mother and son who go off in search of him. Those characters respectively represent the past, the present and my hope for Iraq’s future. I will use primarily non-professional actors in Um-Hussein. By casting real people with a particular affinity to the characters as written, and by working with them in an improvisational way, I hope to elicit performances that draw on their real-life experiences and instincts. Although Iraq has been ravaged by war, it still abounds in many beautiful landscapes, from the lush mountains of the north to the marshes, rivers and deserts in the south. Past and present live side by side, just like the parallel stories in our film. Old Babylon and its hanging gardens stand proudly beside Saddam’s mass graves. American checkpoints have sprung up next to Republican prisons and the ancient city of Summer. More than anything in this note of intention, I want to emphasise that I am not making a ‘political film’. I see it more as a humanist film, telling a human story that all people can relate to. While the story inevitably includes many political elements, they are not at all the thrust of this film. It will be told from my point of view, from my awareness, as an Iraqi man recounting the story of his people to an international audience. Um-Hussein is a bitter search for truth. We hope it will inspire hope for Iraq. Director Mohamed Al-Daradji Mohamed Al-Daradji was born in Baghdad in 1978. He studied film and theatre at the Art Institute before fleeing the country when his cousin, a political activist, was assassinated.
Director Mohamed Al-Daradji Producer Isabelle Jayne Stead, Mohamed Al-Daradji, Dimitri de Clercq Executive producer Pippa Cross, Antonia Bird Writer Mohamed Al-Daradji, Jennifer Norridge, Mathel Khasea Based on an original story Language Arabic, Kurdish Genre Drama A young boy and his grandmother venture through Iraq on a quest to find his missing father. Format 35mm Running time 100 mins approx Target audience Male/female, 25-plus He continued his studies in Holland at the Media Academy in Hilversum. From 1998 to 2002, he worked as a cameraman for Dutch TV. He later attended the Northern Film School in Leeds, UK, where he received a Masters in Cinematography and Directing. After Saddam’s regime was overthrown in 2003, Mohamed returned to Iraq. What he found served as the baptism of fire he needed for his first feature, Ahlaam, which was shot under brutal circumstances on location in Baghdad in 2004, premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2006 and represented Iraq in the Oscar and Golden Globe submissions. Production company Human Film Human Film makes films with a conscience that aim to break down cultural divides. It is committed to producing cutting-edge works that entertain, inspire and revolutionise filmmaking as an art form. Human Film produced the award-winning film Ahlaam (2006), and recently premiered War, Love, God & Madness (2008), a featurelength documentary shot in Iraq. Current status Um-Hussein is expected to go into preproduction in late October 2008. Total budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . .€1,479,600 Finance in place Fonds Sud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .€130,000 UKFC New Cinema Fund . . . . . .€300,000 UKFC Development Fund . . . . . .€20,000 Screen Yorkshire D’ment Fund . .€25,000 In-kind equipment/services . . . .€150,000 Partners attached: CRM-114/Dimitri De Clercq (France); Cinema Broadcast Centre/Rashid Mashawari (Palestine); Iraqi Al- Rafidain/Atia Al-Daradji (Iraq). Iraqi Al-Rafidain, our sister company in Iraq, has met with the Prime Minister’s office, which will support the production. Location scouting, pre-casting and securing facilities and permissions needed to film in Iraq are already underway. Having worked on Ahlaam, Iraqi Al-Rafidain have already established a good working relationship with many suppliers of production facilities throughout the Middle East, including Kodak-Dubai. The film is also morally supported by The Sundance Institute. UK company Goalpost Film (Clubland, The Escapist) are onboard as world sales agent. Pippa Cross (Vanity Fair, Bloody Sunday) is our UK executive producer. Our creative executive producer is acclaimed director Antonia Bird, who is helping with the script edit. Aims at the NPP Since the director of our project is Iraqi/Dutch, it is important to us that the foundations of our project reflect that. We hope at the Netherlands Production Platform to meet like-minded film-makers. As we plan to shoot in late October/November 2008, it is important for us to meet with people who take an innovative, out-of-the-box approach and ideally have access to funding beyond public subsidies. Budget € 1,479,600 Cast tbc Contact Isabelle Jayne Stead Human Film ADP House 35 Hanover Square Leeds LS31BQ UK Tel: (44) 1132 438880 Mobile: (44) 7835 378 454 isabelle@humanfilm.co.uk www.humanfilm.co.uk NPP 2008 • 31
Page 1: Netherlands Production Platform NPP
Page 4 and 5: The Netherlands Production Platform
Page 6 and 7: The Bear (Ursul) Libra Film Romania
Page 8 and 9: Corps diplomatique Dschoint Ventsch
Page 10 and 11: The Fields Savage Film Belgium Writ
Page 12 and 13: Invasion Twenty Twenty Vision Filmp
Page 14 and 15: Istanbul Új Budapest Filmstúdió
Page 16 and 17: Lonely Woman Artémis Productions B
Page 18 and 19: Our Grand Despair (Bizim büyük ca
Page 20 and 21: Playoff Topia Communications Israel
Page 22 and 23: The Runway Fastnet Films Ireland Wr
Page 24 and 25: Seeing Chris Newgrange Pictures Ire
Page 26 and 27: Shanghai- Belleville Clandestine &
Page 28 and 29: The Snow Queen (Lumekuninganna) F-S
Page 30 and 31: Svinalängorna (The Pigsties) Hepp
Page 34 and 35: 1-900 (06) Column Film/Ironworks Ne
Page 36 and 37: A Kronstadt Tale Van Lieshout Filmp
Page 38 and 39: Lourdes Holland Harbour Productions
Page 40 and 41: Olga - Tomorrow I’ll Dance (Olga
Page 42 and 43: Shocking Blue Waterland Film Nether
Page 44 and 45: Sonny Boy Shooting Star Filmcompany
Page 46: Index English titles, original titl

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