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Baghdad hopes for better film festival

Iraqi filmgoers are hoping this year’s Baghdad International Film Festival will be an improvement over last year, when low-quality films marred the event.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY KHALIL JALIL
Iraqis sit and watch a show during the opening ceremony of the 5th Baghdad International Film Festival (BIFF) in the Iraqi capital on October 6, 2013. AFP PHOTO / SABAH ARAR        (Photo credit should read SABAH ARAR/AFP/Getty Images)
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Baghdad is preparing for its upcoming film festival this month, with hopes it will be an improvement over last year’s disaster.

Forty-five narrative, short and documentary films were meant to be screened during the Baghdad Arab Cultural Capital festival of 2013, but by the end of the festival, only one was screened. The only narrative film that saw the light was “Baghdad, a Pink Dream” by director Faisal al-Yassiri, only to be withdrawn after the first screening in January 2014.

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