Our River...Our Sky
Iraq
Maysoon Pachachi
Baghdad; the last week of 2006 : in a typically mixed neighbourhood, people are trying to live their everyday lives in spite of the extreme and unpredictable sectarian violence and the nightly curfews, which trap them inside their houses.
At the heart of the film are SARA (40), estranged from her husband, and her 7 year-old daughter, REEMA. Every night Sara hunches over her computer obsessively scouring the internet: How many dead today? Numbers, numbers…just endless numbers… Sara is a novelist, but now shocked by violence and loss, she can’t seem to write a word. It would all just be a lie anyway. Maybe she and her daughter should leave this unliveable place, like so many others have?
But everything that matters to her is here in this city and Reema seems alright; she tells jokes, plays tricks – a child who doesn’t really understand what’s happening. But Reema knows much more than she tells her mother…
When Sara’s closest friend, the keeper of all her secrets, SABIHA, a former actress and a Christian, is forced into exile by a sectarian gang, Sara begins to fight back and recover a sense of defiance. But the shock of another senseless death threatens to bring her world crashing down around her once again. Finally a confrontation with her angry young daughter enables her to break out of her paralysis and to reclaim her voice. She begins to write again.
Sara and Reema’s story intersects and resonates with those of their neighbours, all unfolding and playing out in parallel. Among them: KAMAL, a former POW in Iran, now driving a taxi, and trying to erase the past; MONA, his pregnant wife who is banned from seeing her children from a first marriage; DIJLA, Sara’s manic-depressive friend, a vet with a complicated love-life - always hunting for ‘happy pills’; HAIDER, a teenager on the cusp of manhood, getting pulled towards violence; YAHYA, Sara’s architect brother, repairing bomb-damaged schools who has 2 choices ‘be a thief’ like his bosses or forget about working; TAMARA, Sara’s 20 year-old neighbour, who’s seen nothing but wars and just wants to live – impatient for change and enraged by the passivity of the older generation.
Sara takes Reema to the river Tigris. For the first time in her life, Reema crosses a bridge on foot, and rides in a boat. This is where Sara experienced her first romantic love. They make an unspoken pact to stay and see things through, however precarious their existence is in this dangerous place they call home. They will not hide things from each other.
On the last morning, everyone wakes to the news that Saddam Hussein has been secretly executed in the night, leaving them waiting for the New Year with a sense of fear and uncertainty. A car-bomb goes off...and then another. Everyone will struggle through each day to sustain a fragile hope. And sometimes, like a miracle, life still blossoms.
At the heart of the film are SARA (40), estranged from her husband, and her 7 year-old daughter, REEMA. Every night Sara hunches over her computer obsessively scouring the internet: How many dead today? Numbers, numbers…just endless numbers… Sara is a novelist, but now shocked by violence and loss, she can’t seem to write a word. It would all just be a lie anyway. Maybe she and her daughter should leave this unliveable place, like so many others have?
But everything that matters to her is here in this city and Reema seems alright; she tells jokes, plays tricks – a child who doesn’t really understand what’s happening. But Reema knows much more than she tells her mother…
When Sara’s closest friend, the keeper of all her secrets, SABIHA, a former actress and a Christian, is forced into exile by a sectarian gang, Sara begins to fight back and recover a sense of defiance. But the shock of another senseless death threatens to bring her world crashing down around her once again. Finally a confrontation with her angry young daughter enables her to break out of her paralysis and to reclaim her voice. She begins to write again.
Sara and Reema’s story intersects and resonates with those of their neighbours, all unfolding and playing out in parallel. Among them: KAMAL, a former POW in Iran, now driving a taxi, and trying to erase the past; MONA, his pregnant wife who is banned from seeing her children from a first marriage; DIJLA, Sara’s manic-depressive friend, a vet with a complicated love-life - always hunting for ‘happy pills’; HAIDER, a teenager on the cusp of manhood, getting pulled towards violence; YAHYA, Sara’s architect brother, repairing bomb-damaged schools who has 2 choices ‘be a thief’ like his bosses or forget about working; TAMARA, Sara’s 20 year-old neighbour, who’s seen nothing but wars and just wants to live – impatient for change and enraged by the passivity of the older generation.
Sara takes Reema to the river Tigris. For the first time in her life, Reema crosses a bridge on foot, and rides in a boat. This is where Sara experienced her first romantic love. They make an unspoken pact to stay and see things through, however precarious their existence is in this dangerous place they call home. They will not hide things from each other.
On the last morning, everyone wakes to the news that Saddam Hussein has been secretly executed in the night, leaving them waiting for the New Year with a sense of fear and uncertainty. A car-bomb goes off...and then another. Everyone will struggle through each day to sustain a fragile hope. And sometimes, like a miracle, life still blossoms.
Support:
Festivals and Awards:
Sarajevo 2021: World Premiere
San Francisco 2021, Arab Film Festival
Cairo 2021, Horizons of Arab Cinema
British Independen Film Awards 2022: Best Ensemble award for cast members including: Meriam Abbas, Labwa Arab, Ali El Kareem, Basim Hajar, Amed Hashimi, Zainab Joda, Darina Al Joundi + Best Casting - Leila Bertrand + Best Supporting Performance - Zainab Joda
San Francisco 2021, Arab Film Festival
Cairo 2021, Horizons of Arab Cinema
British Independen Film Awards 2022: Best Ensemble award for cast members including: Meriam Abbas, Labwa Arab, Ali El Kareem, Basim Hajar, Amed Hashimi, Zainab Joda, Darina Al Joundi + Best Casting - Leila Bertrand + Best Supporting Performance - Zainab Joda
World Sales:
The Party Film Sales