Personnel
The college was founded by 2 experienced independent
Iraqi filmmakers, who have been based in the UK for many years. KASIM
ABID is a cameraman/director/producer and MAYSOON PACHACHI is an editor/director/producer.
They are responsible for most of the teaching at the moment. As the
college becomes more established and the security situation in Iraq
gets better, there will be other trainers coming to work at the college. See
more information on the college's directors here.
INTISHAL AL TAMIMI acts as a consultant for the
college. He is an Iraqi photographer, who is based in the Netherlands.
For many years, he has directed film festivals all over Europe, the
Middle East and Asia. He is putting together a film festival in Baghdad,
which the college hopes to mount in the near future and advising on
the building of our library.
Programme of courses
We offer a series of one-, two- and three-month
courses, free of charge, for 20-25 students at a time. On each course
at least 25% will be women and half will be students from outside
Baghdad, for whom we will provide accommodation.
We teach camera, sound, lighting, editing, documentary
and short fiction filmmaking. In the future we also aim to have courses
in TV reportage features, studio work and animation. In all our courses,
students will learn professional crew discipline and achieve a grasp
of basic filmmaking techniques and ideas, which they can then go on
to develop.
Our training for the moment is on DV cameras and
non-linear editing equipment. In time we hope to introduce 16mm film
as well.
What we have achieved so far
The biggest problem we face is the difficult security
situation in Iraq. This has meant we have to work in a piecemeal and
flexible fashion, always mindful of the safety of our students, which
means that sometimes a course that is, for example, scheduled to take
3 months can often take longer. But in the end the work gets done
and no one gets hurt.
So far, we have managed to run a course in basic
camera, sound and lighting a course in documentary filmmaking, where
students produced their own short films (link to 4 films). We are
now running another documentary course, where students are again making
their own short films.
Our training programme has enabled some of our students
to find jobs in Iraq in the media, on camera and editing.
Other facilities
As we raise the money to buy more equipment, we
hope to be able to offer our former students and other Iraqi filmmakers
the use of our facilities free-of-charge or for nominal fees. When
they are not being used by our students, our facilities may also be
available for outside hire.
We are setting up a video and DVD library of world-class
documentary and fiction films to which our students and other interested
Iraqi filmmakers can refer.
Contact us
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