Mohammad Al Daradji Director of ’In My Mother’s Arms’

Mohammad Al Daradji was in post-production in Leeds for his film Son of Babylon when his brother, back in his hometown Baghdad, received a phone call from Husham, the director of his neighbourhood’s orphanage. Husham needed financial support to keep protecting his 32 orphans, whom he considered as his own children. He believed filmmaking could change lives. This encounter with Mohammad Al Daradji reveals why Husham was right.

Why did your family get involved with helping this orphanage? Did they have the money to help?

No, not really, we sometimes get calls from needy people. You know we live in a poor neighbourhood and the neighbours know I am a filmmaker. In our religion, if you receive something then you give it back. People knew we were supportive, so my brother got this phone call from Husham, a man in charge of a group of 32 children who were living in a one-bedroom rented house. My brother visited them and he was shocked by the conditions these children were living in. Then he helped them out a bit. We finished Son of Babylon that my brother produced. We gave them some money and decided to make a film. Those children have been affected by the Americans or sectarian violence.

What do you mean by sectarian violence?

Well, actually it’s the violence between different sects but the truth is that we don’t call it Shia/Sunni violence, because it is actually random violence… So my brother started filming with a digital camera. When I finished editing Son of Babylon, I saw the material and was blown away, it was like wow! Then we got another call saying they had to leave the house because of the landlord and they had nowhere else to go. So we filmed again and we got support from the UK. I sold my own awards at charities to raise some money and managed to gather around ten thousand dollars.

Isn’t the government supporting orphans?

A law states that when children lose their parents they come under the protection of Iraq. They become the children, and Iraq, the mother, but my country doesn’t help them. Our religion advises us to look after people. If Mohammed the Prophet would come back and see what had happened, he would certainly not accept this Islam. Without identification, you are treated like scum. In my film an old man cries over those kids. He fears that they would become soldiers, join Al-Qa’ida or end up being abused. Husham names his orphans after him and guides them the best he can.

What is the story about?

The film focuses on a seven-year-old boy who lost his parents due to a market suicide attack. Living in a two-bedroom house, he became violent because of his trauma. The kids provoked him by calling him by his mother’s name. His name is Imad and they’d call him Madjoode. That drove him crazy. His story is about striving to survive. Husham uses music and drama to help the children release their anger and aggressiveness, and to recover from what they have been through. He directed the theatre play In My Mother’s Arms, which they perform in front of people. My film is named after it.

It must have been emotionally exhausting for you to finish the filmmaking of a tense movie such as Son of Babylon and get right away into this experience…

I’m emotionally tired. I cried a lot during the making of this film because I love them. I love these children. They are all very talented. Five of them are in the top Iraqi swimming team, another two in the Iraqi soccer team and they do very well at school. When they sing, it’s purely beautiful. I try myself to release my pain and my stress through songs. The Iraqi culture has something to do with music and sounds. When I write, shoot or edit any film, I think of the Holy Qur’an. It helps me to develop my film. I need to find a rhythm for the film. Son of Babylon starts with a song whose beat is binary. During my shootings everybody sings, even technicians.

By Samira Mesbahi