Drift into the Silence
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My Children Die in the Sky
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Elegy of the Black Earth: A Prophecy from Sumer to the Age of Oil
Elegy of the Black Earth (A Prophecy from Sumer to the Age of Oil) By Amal Al-Jubouri I — Tablets of Clay In the beginning…
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Cinematic Archive
The Poetics of the Lens
As a filmmaker, Amal Al-Jubouri extends her poetic vision into the cinematic realm, creating what may be described as “visual poems” that explore the landscapes of exile, memory, and extreme human conditions. Her work has been showcased at international festivals, bridging Iraqi literary traditions with global avant-garde cinema.
She documented the destruction and looting of the Iraqi National Museum, as well as the burning of the National Archives in Baghdad following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, in her documentary From Berlin to Baghdad (short version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y12TcW-hzc&t=61s
).
Al-Jubouri has since produced several films grounded in storytelling as a means of peacebuilding in post-conflict Iraq, particularly in the aftermath of the invasion and the rise of ISIS in Mosul. She approaches narrative as a strategy to counter hate speech, challenge dominant sectarian discourses, and promote tolerance in the face of extremism and cultural fragmentation. Among these works is Forgive but Never Forget, which recounts the bombing of Al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad in 2007 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PGe0Esk5N4&t=153s
).
In 2018, she produced four films for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)—two animated and two documentary works—focusing on women’s empowerment and participation in the political process in Iraq (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHOyIKFrDME
; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBc-0iYkHko
; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko9Qr65neyk&t=109s
; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYV06-soGeA&t=72s
).
From documentary archives in Baghdad to conceptual filmmaking in Berlin, her cinematic practice functions as a visual testimony to historical rupture and as a quiet yet powerful witness to the resilience of the human spirit.
