Synopsis
Her parents fled Iraq before she was born, but Swiss filmmaker Tabarak Allah Abbas has heard all the stories. Based on these anecdotes, she made a short, animated film featuring her parents as superheroes.
This format makes Mawtini an exciting action film with a young couple in the leading roles. They want a better life for their newborn child, so they have to fight killer robots to get out of the country. Beneath the surface, of course, this is more than just a flashy anime adventure.
Ultimately, Abbas also addresses her father and mother, who appear in real photos. Mawtini is therefore not only a film that liberates refugees from their role as victims, but also a moving love letter from an eternally grateful daughter.
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Credits
13 min
color
DCP
Spoken languages: Arabic
Director
Tabarak Allah Abbas
Tabarak Allah Abbas
Production
Nicolas Wadimoff,
Delphine Jeanneret for HEAD Genève
Nicolas Wadimoff,
Delphine Jeanneret for HEAD Genève
Cinematography
Tabarak Allah Abbas
Tabarak Allah Abbas
Animation
Nour Bisevac
Nour Bisevac
Editing
Camille Uliana
Camille Uliana
Screening copy
HEAD Genève
HEAD Genève
Stills
More from the program section IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary
The IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary offers world-class films that challenge our understanding of youth documentary. Curated by filmmaker Niki Padidar, the selection showcases compelling films that take on complex realities and leave room for interpretation, presented for two distinct age groups: 9- to 12-year-olds, and 13-year-olds all the way to adulthood.
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