Amal and Mustafa have shared a long life together in northern Iraq. When Amal decides to finally renovate their home after a decade of war, Mustafa retreats to the garden, here he encounters the curious gaze of his grandniece and her camera. An intimate snapshot of life at the boundary of destruction and renewal, Amal's Garden is the unexpected portrait of one Turkmen couple moving forward in a new Iraq, where, even in the stillness of night, life is blooming.
"A vivid portrait of a family, and a suggestive portrait of a complex community, with a few small strokes" - Shelly Kraicer, Vancouver International Film Festival
"In Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, almost ten years after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the Kurdish, Turkish and Iraqi flags fly side by side. The filmmaker of Amal's Garden approaches this coexistence obliquely, with infinite tenderness, filming only what is intimate..." Charlotte Garson, Cinema du Reel
_"A delicate and empathetic portraya_l" - Karol Kucmierz, Ars Independent Film Festival
"A story of tenderness amid ever shifting conditions. It captures the of life of a small embattled family living under the hegemony of three competing flags- now four-and it shows the resilience of an ethnic minority in a pseudo state where those who rule are always changing." Nezar AlSayyad, University of California, Berkeley
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Dubai International Film Festival 2012
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Cinema du Reel 2013
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Arab American National Museum 2014
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Twin Cities Arab Film Festival 2014
