The First Movie

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

An innovative 'magic realist' documentary set in Iraq. Filmmaker Mark Cousins, who was brought up in a Northern Irish war zone, travels to Goptapa, a Kurdish-Iraqi village of just 700 people... Read allAn innovative 'magic realist' documentary set in Iraq. Filmmaker Mark Cousins, who was brought up in a Northern Irish war zone, travels to Goptapa, a Kurdish-Iraqi village of just 700 people on a tributary of the Tigris river, and tries to make a dream film about a place that is ... Read allAn innovative 'magic realist' documentary set in Iraq. Filmmaker Mark Cousins, who was brought up in a Northern Irish war zone, travels to Goptapa, a Kurdish-Iraqi village of just 700 people on a tributary of the Tigris river, and tries to make a dream film about a place that is normally only portrayed in current affairs programmes. He gives the kids cameras. They mak... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

241

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 2 nominations total

Photos5

User reviews2

7.3241

Featured reviews

10schanen

Just brilliant on all fronts

This movie played at the Telluride Film festival (2010) and I was fortunate to see it there. It has haunted me since I saw it- it is beautifully done, meaningful and truly a piece of art. It is masterfully directed and narrated and provides a unique view of Iraq, artfully illustrating the humanity of a part of the world that we hear portrayed so negatively in the news media. Everyone should see this movie- literally everyone. It was a consensus among the Telluride crowd that this movie ranked in the top movies to see at the festival. I certainly ranked it as the best film I saw there, and I saw several great films. None touched me like this one.

10costeris35

Beautiful, moving and a completely new image of the world

One of the most beautiful and moving works of art I have ever seen. The movie shows a small village in Irak where the filmmaker shows the children classic movies for children and then gives the children camera's to film their own lives and their own stories. The life of the village, its past and dreams all come out through the eyes of its children. It leaves you with the knowledge that though its horrors are very visible even in this out of the way place Iraq is beautiful, its children are wise and funny and that the visual of men gathered in a mosque can be a sight of pleasant community life, of softness and safety, and if that isn't a reversal of expectation nothing is.