Director
Mohamed Al-Daradji (born 6 August 1978, Baghdad) is an Iraqi filmmaker, writer, producer, and founder of the Iraqi Independent Film Center. He studied in Baghdad and Hilversum, the Netherlands, before completing master's degrees in Cinematography and Directing at the Northern Film School in Leeds, United Kingdom. Al-Daradji made his feature-film debut with Ahlaam (2006), which screened at more than 125 international film festivals and received numerous international awards. The film was also Iraq's submission for the 79th Academy Awards. He followed Ahlaam with his second narrative feature, Son of Babylon (2010), which received critical acclaim and international recognition, screening at major festivals including the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival. The film was also selected as Iraq's submission for the 83rd Academy Awards. Al-Daradji later co-directed the documentary feature In My Mother's Arms (2011). The film screened at numerous international festivals and won the Best Documentary Feature Film award at the 2012 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. His next feature, In the Sands of Babylon (2013), explored the aftermath of the Gulf War and received three major festival awards: Best Film from the Arab World at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, the City of Venice Award at the Venice International Film Festival, and Best Actor at the Festival International du Cinéma de Dakhla. His third narrative feature, The Journey (2017), premiered internationally and received festival recognition. It was selected as Iraq's submission for the 91st Academy Awards. Throughout his career, Al-Daradji's work has explored Iraq's history, war, displacement, memory, trauma, and the human consequences of political conflict. He established the Iraqi Independent Film Center (IIFC), a Baghdad-based film production and training institution dedicated to developing independent cinema and supporting a new generation of Iraqi filmmakers.
