- dir. James Longley
- year. 2006
- country. USA
- run-time. 89 mins
- rating. 12
£5 (£3.50 concessions)
Film: 8.00pm
One year on from the publication of the Chilcot Report into the UK's involvment in the war in Iraq we look back at one of the key early films that sought to examine the effects of the conflict on the Iraqi people.
An opus in three parts, Iraq In Fragments offers a series of intimate, passionately-felt portraits: A fatherless 11 year-old is apprenticed to domineering owner of a Bagdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rally for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes the US presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied.
American director James Longley spent more than two years filming in Iraq to create this stunningly photographed, poetically rendered documentary of the war-torn country as seen though the eyes of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.
Winner of Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Editing in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival documentary competition, the film was also awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. This is the fascinating glimpse of an Iraq the mass media never shows us.
“Intimate and poetic... extraordinary”
“Searing... haunting”
“Astonishing both in its beauty and its breadth”