PUKmedia 06-07-2010 16:24:02Iraqi filmmakers, television directors, cinema critics and fans gathered at Baghdad's Samir Amis Cinema building to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Iraqi Cinema Day, screening the first Iraqi film "Fitna wa Hassan" (Fitna and Hassan), an Iraqi version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Though Iraqi films production began in the mid-1940s, but the production of the film Fitna wa Hassan in 1955 was considered the real start of the Iraqi cinema industry since its cast members were all Iraqis.
The celebration of the country's film industry also included the screening of a documentary showing film makers at work in the early 1950s. There was also an exhibition on old film-making and screening equipment on display.
A number of directors and cinema experts who attended the event complained about the current state of the Iraqi cinema industry due to lack of governmental support, they argued.
The real roots of the Iraqi cinema began under the monarchy in 1940s, where it flourished and prospered with funds provided by French and British investors, but it witnessed demise with the ascension of the Baathists to power in 1958.
By the end of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, the former regime of Saddam Hussein allocated huge funds to promote the cinema industry, drawing in a number of Arab directors to produce films glorifying Saddam's rule or Iraq's history such as "Al-Qadissiya" and the "Great Question".
The U.N. blockade imposed on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990 made it almost impossible to obtain film and other necessary equipment, so the industry fell into ruin. The only feature film produced under the U.N. sanctions is "King Ghazi", which was made in 1994.
After decades of underfunding and war, the pool of writers, cinematographers and other artists in the country have dwindled greatly, with a large number of filmmakers, writers and actors fleeing violence to neighboring countries. The number of cinemas has also decreased.
-Alsumaria-
