Our River...Our Sky
SARA is a single mother and novelist, shocked into silence, at a time of extreme sectarian violence and nightly curfews
in Baghdad. She and her neighbours let us into their everyday lives, as they struggle to resist the fragmentation of their
world and renew a fragile sense of hope and belief in a better future.
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Maysoon PachachiDirector
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Irada Al-JuboriWriterReturn to the Land of Wonders
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Maysoon PachachiWriter
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Talal Al-MuhannaProducerWhose Country?, Jaddoland
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Patrice NezanProducerCorpus Christi, The Tower
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Darina Al JoundiKey Cast"Sara"The Man Who Sold His Skin
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Project Title (Original Language):Kulshi Makoo (Arabic)
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Project Type:Feature
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Genres:Drama
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Runtime:1 hour 50 minutes
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Completion Date:August 19, 2021
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Production Budget:1,500,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:Iraq
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Language:Arabic
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Shooting Format:HD3K
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Aspect Ratio:1:2.39
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
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Sarajevo Film FestivalSarajevo
Bosnia and Herzegovina
August 19, 2021
World Premiere
Dealing with the Past section -
Cairo International Film FestivalCairo
Egypt
November 27, 2021
MENA Premiere
Horizons of Arab Cinema section -
Arab Film Festival USASan Francisco
United States
November 20, 2021
North American Premiere -
Slemani International Film FestivalSulaymaniyah
Iraq
December 20, 2021
Iraq National Premiere
Feature Film Competition
Distribution Information
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The Party Film SalesSales AgentCountry: FranceRights: All Rights
Maysoon Pachachi is a London-based filmmaker of Iraqi origin. She studied Philosophy at University College London and then filmmaking at the London Film School. She was for many years a documentary and drama film editor in the UK, and has worked since 1994 as an independent film director, largely making films in and about the Middle East.
Completed films, as director, include award-winning “Iranian Journey” (ZDF/Arte 1998), “Return to the Land of Wonders” (ZDF/Arte 2004) and “Our Feelings Took the Pictures: Open Shutters Iraq” (Jury Special Mention, AFF Rotterdam 2009).
I’m a filmmaker of Iraqi origin with deep roots in that country and, at the same time, I am a Londoner who has lived in the city for almost all of my adult life. I often feel like a person whose home is on a bridge with a view of both sides of the river.
Iraqis have lived through decades of dictatorship, war and sanctions and since 2003, ongoing extreme daily violence and chaos. Their lives are ruptured and full of loss, with no breathing space to process and repair. This is the emotional context in which people get on with daily lives in a situation where the unthinkable has become the norm, where you have to 'act life’ as people in Sarajevo used to say. The powerful external circumstances affect everyone and create a sense that you are living a story that is at the same time personal, and collective.
I and my co-writer, Irada Al-Jubori, an Iraqi novelist, were interested in finding a fictional form which would reflect this experience.