SPRINGTIME IN BAGDAD

Baghdad, May 2005 in the Al-Amin 2 neighborhood, a poor suburb within the huge Iraqi city. Zaouïda, widow for ten years and mother of 15 children, runs the show. A small pension and the meager salaries of her three sons, two of whom are married but still live at home, keep this community of
25 going. Zaouïda organizes, gives orders and shares her time between laughter, labor, anger and tears. A narrow wedge of open sky surrounds the house where the neighbors’ eyes cannot penetrate. The reclusive young women come here to cook bread or hang out the washing. Their life outdoors is restricted to these few square meters. There is much laughter and talking in this house and the television, turned up full blast when the electricity is on – between two and four hours a day – pumps out its flow of trashy programs. Several weeks were spent in this family, sharing its daily life, listening and filming… Several weeks of inner peace in the midst of exterior chaos. 60 minutes in slices of life, portraits and testimonies at the heart of a city and a county over which the West has placed a black veil.