The 5th Baghdad International Film Festival
500 films from the continents of the world participated in this edition, and they were determined the competing films within the six films competitions of the Baghdad International Film Festival, which was held at the Meridian Hotel - Palestine from 3-7 October 2013. As for this edition, it was outstanding, when Baghdad Festival was chosen from thousands of festivals around the world to be in the annual meeting of international film festivals in the city of "Jihlava" in Czech Republic, also in the activities of the "Jihlava" Film Festival. In addition, the festival had three-year partnership - with the "Amsterdam International Film Festival Adva".
In this edition, we announced agreements with many festivals around the world, such as “Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival” in France, to present the most important distinguished films shown at that festival, especially those that won the most important awards, and a group of French films has shown also within the framework of cooperation. On the other hand, we announced that Baghdad International Film Festival will conclude an agreement with the “Seattle International Film Festival” in the United States of America for the purpose of cooperation and programs exchange, Baghdad Festival also announced that it had reached an agreement with “Why Poverty in South Africa?” Foundation. According to that agreement, more than twenty films directed by a group of directors from around the world will be screened within a special program. Within the framework of seminars and panel discussions, this edition witnessed symposium on “the reality and future of cinematic production in Iraq and ways to improve it.” also symposium entitled “The Documentary Eye and Monitoring the Variables of Arab Reality, Middle East and North Africa”. The fifth edition of international photography competitions,120 photographers from Iraq and all over the world competed. Among the arbitration committees were the Italian director “Laura Battafalia“, the French director “Jour Gerat” and the Canadian-Lebanese director “Katia Jarjour“.
