The French Institute In Iraq Hosts The First National Screening Of HAIFA STREET

release date October 24 2022

Mohanad Hayal’s HAIFA STREET will hold its first national screening in Iraq, its homeland on October 27th at 6p.m (GMT +3), Iraq time at The French Institute of Iraq, in the presence of the director, cast, and producers. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the crew.

The film has garnered several international awards including The Golden Olive branch award for best feature film at the fifth edition of the Jerusalem International Film Festival, the Best Film award at the Busan International Film Festival, the Laser Film award, and the HAKKA Distribution award at the Takmil Workshop of the Carthage Film Festival (JCC), Lab Award from the Asia Pacific Academy, Market Award at the Tribeca International Film Festival, and the Cinescape Award, presented by Front Row at the Dubai International Film Festival. Moreover, the film won a post-production grant from the Doha Film Institute.

HAIFA STREET had its Arab world premiere at the Carthage Film Festival (JCC), where it received a wide audience and critical acclaim, and landed its world European premiere at Göteborg Film Festival in Sweden.
HAIFA STREET was featured at the Darb 1718 Art and Culture Center and The Arab World Festival of Montreal as well as the first Amman International Film Festival.

Furthermore, it had a full house screening at Zawya Cinema, Egypt, and has been released across Tunisian cinemas.
Set in Baghdad in 2006, Haifa Street is one of the most dangerous places suffering from the civil war and violence that has plagued the city. When Ahmed is dropped off there by a taxi on his way to his beloved Suad's house to ask for her hand in marriage, he gets shot by Salam, an anxious young sniper who is living his own personal hell on a rooftop above. Suad desperately tries to save Ahmed, but Salam prevents anyone from approaching him under the threat of gunfire. When her daughter Nadia elicits the help of their cunning neighbor, Dalal, all hell breaks loose under the ominous presence of the American occupation.

Directed by Mohanad Hayal, who co-wrote it with Hala Alsalman, HAIFA STREET stars Ali Thamer, Asad Abdulmajeed, Yumna Marwan, and Iman Abdulhassan, and produced by Sumerian Dream Productions. Wide Management manages the film's worldwide distribution, while MAD Solutions manages the film's marketing and distribution across the Arab world.

Mohanad Hayal was born in southern Iraq in the city of Nasiriyah in 1985. He graduated from the Cinema Department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 2010. He participated in many advanced cinema workshops in several European and Arab countries. His latest short film HAPPY BIRTHDAY (2013) was selected at Berlin International Film Festival and received the Rising Star Award at the 2014 Rhode International Film Festival in the US.

His debut feature HAIFA STREET won the Top Award in the Official Competition of the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, and the Best Arabic Film and Best Acting Performance awards in the Horizons of Arab Cinema competition at the Cairo International Film Festival. He also co-produced several films as well as organized many screenwriting and co-production workshops. Mohanad, along with a group of Iraqi critics, co-founded the Baghdad Scholarship for Independent Films, The scholarship, which he heads, is under the auspices of the Iraqi Ministery of Culture.He wrote and produced several TV shows, including THE RED ZONE and DEEP STATE. He also created several Arab and Iraqi drama series.