Director
Bassim Al-Shaker was 19 years old when a group of Mahdi militia members visited his barbershop in 2007. They wanted a new haircut. When they saw his unfinished painting of Venus, however, they were so offended by the nude figure that they beat the young man, forcibly cut his hair, and dragged him out into the street. The film reconstructs the shocking incident through personal testimony and his own drawings.
Director
Sada, meaning «echo» in Arabic, was conceived as Sada for Iraqi art by the Baghdad-born Rijin Sahakian. Sahakian set up the initiative, which ran from 2011 to 2015, in order to support Baghdad-based artists facing the damage done to the contemporary art infrastructure in Iraq after cycles of war, destruction, sanctions, and continual political insecurity. For «documenta fifteen», Sahakian invited former participants of Sada to produce video work reflecting on their practice and where they are today. The participating artists are Sajjad Abbas, Bassim Al Shaker, Layth Kareem, Ali Eyal, Raed Mutar, Sarah Munaf, and Sahakian herself. This almanac is a valuable historical document about a country destroyed by a bloody war.
