Mandell JCC Film Festival
Film Screening and Iraqi Jewish Dinner with the JHSGH
6 PM, Monday, March 11, 2019
“REMEMBER BAGHDAD”
Director: Fiona Murphy
Documentary | Great Britain | 69 minutes | 2017 | English, Hebrew, Arabic | English subtitles
On the hundredth anniversary of the British invasion in 1917, Remember Baghdad is the
untold story of Iraq, an unmissable insight into how the country developed from a completely
new perspective – through the eyes of the Jews who lived there for 2,600 years until only a
generation ago.
With vivid home movies and archived news footage, eight characters tell their remarkable
stories, of fun that was had, and the fear that followed as Iraq laid foundations for decades of
unrest. Amid the country’s instability today we follow one Iraqi Jew on a journey home, back
to Baghdad.
The story begins in a happy period for the Jews. In 1917 a third of the citizens of Baghdad
are Jewish. The descendants of the scholars who wrote the Babylonian Talmud are now
westernizing fast. In 1947 the first Miss Baghdad is Jewish. Jews are parliamentarians. They
attend fancy parties and picnics on the Tigris with the elite.
But after the creation of Israel they are no longer safe. A mass exodus takes place, though
many thousands stay behind, loyal to the country they love. Finally, after 1967, Saddam
Hussein mobilizes a mass movement against them and they must flee. The characters tell
their story with poignant regret and bitter clarity.
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