Abraham Wins Grand Jury Prize at the Popoli E Religioni - Terni Film Festival in Italy

The short film Abraham by writer and director Ali Kareem Obaid won the Grand Jury Prize at the Popoli e Religioni - Terni Film Festival in Italy.

 

Set against the backdrop of ISIS' imposition of the "jizya" or tax on non-Muslims in its territories, a Christian family devises a plan to protect its only daughter. However, their "perfect" solution might end up having more tragic consequences than intended.

 

Written and directed by Iraqi filmmaker Ali Kareem Obaid, Abraham stars Sara El Debuçh, Mohamed Zouaoui, Basil Al Ali, Faisal Dasser and Wolf Layban. The film is a co-production between Iraq, Italy and the UAE. Abraham is produced by Baburka Production and distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions.

 

The film world premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival in 2016. Abraham was selected at many film festivals including the Odense Film Festival (OFF), Seoul International Extreme- Short Image & Film Festival, Cyprus International Film Festival, Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden, Arab Film Festival San Fransisco in the US, Khartoum International Film Festival in Sudan, Slemani International Film Festival in Iraq, Arab Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Best Mini Film Festival.

 

Ali Kareem Obaid is an Iraqi filmmaker who graduated in 2011 from the Academy of Fine Arts, Baghdad University. In 2016, he obtained his MA in Choreography and Performance from the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies, Gießen University (Germany). His first short film, Hassan in Wonderland, took part in 45 film festivals all around the world winning seven awards, the last of which was the Van Gogh Award for the Best Family Film at the Amsterdam Film Festival in 2015. Obaid directed the short film crISIS in 2016, and Abraham is his latest short film.