Heba Bassem, a young student from Kirkuk, returns to Baghdad after the war to finish her film studies at the Art Academy. She belongs to the first class of film and TV students who submit their graduation films in December 2005. For her final project, Heba chose to capture the way she tries to finish her study in the semi-destroyed city of Baghdad, where everything has changed and the upcoming elections raise the tension even further.

To her small camera, she openly tells what she feels when she has trouble finding accommodation, when her family misses her, how she feels bad about the injuries her cousin Ali has sustained, and the feeling when she has to acquire a place for herself in the male-dominated film and TV world. Fearing riots, she decides not to vote, which she later regrets. In Kirkuk, the Arab Heba and her family lived in harmony with the Kurds. But the war gave the Kurds a lot of power, so everything changed and the family decided to move to Baghdad. In the capital, the traces of the war are even more noticeable, and the future of Heba and her sisters is anything but certain.

Heba Bassem

Heba Bassem was born in Kirkuk, North of Iraq. She studied at Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad, Cinema Department. In October 2004 she joined the Independent Film and TV College for a documentary course in Baghdad and graduated with the film “Baghdad Days” in November 2005. After her graduation Heba worked as assistant director of the soap opera “Candle’s House” at the Iraqi National TV. Currently she is working as presenter of a cultural programme at Al Horrah satellite TV station.