Kuwait co-produced film tells intertwined story of friendship and separation

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 18: The documentary film “Dance with a Bullet” by Iraqi filmmaker Dhyaa Joda is set to have its Arabian Gulf premiere in UAE as part of the 4th edition of Sharjah Film Platform between November 19-27. The one-hour documentary is a coproduction between Kuwait-based company Linked Productions, led by producer Talal Al-Muhanna, and Belgian film and TV producer Maarten Schmidt (Storyhouse). The film has previously been presented in the Documentary Competition at Carthage Cinema Days in Tunisia and at festivals in the USA and Azerbaijan. “Dance with a Bullet” is a documentary film that tells the intertwined story, of friendship and separation, of two friends from Baghdad – a filmmaker named Dhyaa and a choreographer named Anmar.

The filming takes place over a period of 10 years, beginning during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and continuing, in multiple countries, until both the filmmaker and the dancer resettle elsewhere. The sometimes haunting footage captures the transformations in the lives of these two young men and, in retrospect, helps Anmar recall the terrifying moment when, in 2004, he was shot. Due to the deliberate targeting of artists by terror groups during the country’s sectarian-fueled civil war, both young men fl ed Iraq – each out of fear for his life and to seek refuge somewhere more safe. With Dhyaa emigrating to Belgium and Anmar to Sweden, the film refl ects on each one’s connection to his homeland, the challenges and complexities of integrating in Europe and the deep trauma caused by their eventual return to Baghdad at a certain point. Says producer Talal Al-Muhanna: “

The film reveals the fragile artistic scene in Iraq and the often well-meaning but misguided perspectives that Europeans have towards exiled Iraqi artists living in Europe”. The film neither answers all the questions it raises nor attempts to finish with a happy ending in the story of the two friends - who are eventually separated by new borders and go their own ways. It does, however, open a window to the personal experiences and professional dilemmas of two artists who – having fl ed Iraq – find at least some solace in the act of creation through film and dance. Dhyaa Joda was born in 1979 in Baghdad. He studied cinema at the University of Fine Arts in Baghdad and worked for TV channels Aljazeera, Alarabiya and Alhurra. He was also cameraman on the documentary film “Operation Filmmaker” by Nina Davenport. Dhyaa left Baghdad in November 2005 and currently lives in Belgium. His short fiction “Sabeya”, about a Yazidi woman, won Best Topical Short” at BBC Arabic Film Festival in 2019 as well as the Jury Prize at Dubai IFF in 2017. Talal Al-Muhanna is a film and TV producer who develops documentary and fiction films with filmmakers of Arab descent. He holds a BA and MA in Film & Moving Image Production from Leeds Metropolitan University in the U.K. and was the recipient of a Professional Achievement Award by the British Council Kuwait in 2020. Films produced by Al-Muhanna have won awards at Dubai IFF, BBC Arabic Film Festival, Chicago International TV Festival, JCC Carthage, ITF Prague, Cairo IFF, Doha Tribeca Film Festival and New Orleans Film Festival amongst others. Sharjah Film Platform is an annual festival organised by Sharjah Art Foundation to support the growing film scene in the UAE by celebrating and sustaining the work of local, regional and international filmmakers. The fourth edition, running from 19 to 27 November 2021, features a core film programme of over 50 short and feature-length films in the narrative, documentary and experimental genres, selected through an open call.