Official Selection - Out of Competition

Baghdad Messi

Sahim Omar Kalifa
Talent présent •  Talent présent •  
Festival Pops 2022 120 min Belgium
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Synopsis

Undying passion for the game

Hamoudi is a football-crazy eleven-year-old who lives in Baghdad and idolises Lionel Messi. Even after he loses a leg in a terrorist attack, Hamoudi fights for his dream. Meanwhile his parents struggle to secure the family’s future and his father, racked with guilt, does everything he can to give his son a chance to play again.

Cast/Avec

  • Atheer Adel
  • Errol Trotman-Harewood
  • Christian Renson
  • Zahraa Ghandour
  • Hussein Hassan Ali
  • Saman Mustefa

Screenplay

  • Kobe Van Steenberghe
  • Ruth Mellaerts
  • based on the story written by Sahim Omar Kalifa

Cinematographer

  • Anton Mertens

Sound

  • Arne Thomas

Music

  • Frédéric Vercheval

Production

  • A Team Productions

Screenings

Sunday 05 March 2023 20:30
Talent présent  •  
Lieux : Ciné Utopia
Audio : Arabic
Subtitles : French, Dutch
Screening : Public Screening
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Sahim Omar Kalifa

Sahim Omar Kalifa
Sahim Omar Kalifa

Born in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1980, Sahim Omar Kalifa is a Belgian-Kurdish filmmaker based in Belgium, where he first settled in 2001. He has a master’s degree in filmmaking from the Sint-Lukas Film School in Brussels. Kalifa has won numerous international awards for his short films, which include a 2012 version of Baghdad Messi that was shortlisted for the 87th Academy awards.

More about the director

Filmography

  • Baghdad Messi 2023
  • Cornered in Molenbeek 2018
  • Zagros 2017
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