Director
This short, autobiographical documentary combines phone monologues, dashboard camera footage, and visual accounts from social media to make a unique, inside look into the life of an up-and-coming female artist from Baghdad who inevitably crosses paths with political turmoil. Munaf documents her journey from her attempts at creating contemporary art in a very limiting environment, the ISIS invasion, and her emigration to Turkey to the invasion of Ukraine where her parents emigrated to.
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 This almanac is a valuable historical document about a country destroyed by a bloody war.
