Sahim Omar Kalifa

Nan

Sahim Omar Kalifa

Kehreman macid, Leila laraaj

Sahim Omar Kalifa's graduating Film. A Kurdish family is trying everything to obtain residence papers and stay in Belgium.

Baghdad Messi

Sahim Omar Kalifa

Noor Al-Hoda, Ali Raad Al-Zaydawi

Iraq, 2009. Little Hamoudi (10) is totally obsessed with football. Just as the rest of the world, he and his friends are eagerly looking forward to the Champions League finale FC Barcelona-Manchester United. The long awaited clash between Messi and Ronaldo. But then Hamoudi's television breaks down...

Zagros

Sahim Omar Kalifa

Feyyaz Duman, Maaike Neuville

Zagros (26) is a shepherd who lives in a Kurdish village with his pregnant wife Havin and their daughter. His father tells him that people gossip about Havin: there are rumours of her having an affair. Zagros brushes his father’s concerns away as he trusts his wife and refuses to give credit to the rumours. Later, while Zagros tends to his sheep, he learns that his family have accused Havin of adultery and locked her up. Zagros returns to his village but finds his wife and daughter gone. Havin has fled to the west with their daughter and unborn child. Zagros, believing his wife’s innocence and opposing his father, travels to Istanbul and meets a smuggler who can take him to the west…

Bad Hunter

Sahim Omar Kalifa

Abdullah Taher, Naima Abdo

Young man Bahoz goes hunting in rural Kurdistan. He witnesses the rape of a young woman by an older man. He chases the man away and helps the woman to mend her clothes so she can conceal the rape from her family. That evening, Bahoz receives an unexpected visit...

Land of the Heroes

Sahim Omar Kalifa

Ahmed Nisret, Zana Gandi

Iraq, 1988. A land devastated by war (Iraq-Iran conflict). Dilleer (10) and his sister Zienee want to watch cartoons on television, but that becomes more difficult than expected when bully Malo comes along.

Cornered in Molenbeek

Sahim Omar Kalifa

Mainstream media have described the Brussels district of Molenbeek as the "jihad capital of Europe," after several suspects in the terrorist attacks on France and Belgium were revealed to have been recruited from its large Muslim community. In the heart of this troubled neighbourhood, Coiffure Zaïdi, a barber shop sitting just opposite a mosque, serves as a meeting place for locals of all ages. This is where award-winning director Sahim Omar Kalifa installed his camera, capturing casual conversations between clients of North African origins. As shocked and dismayed by recent events as anyone else, they discuss unemployment and failed integration, immigration policies and government surveillance. With a fly-on-the-wall approach to these animated debates, and a keen, humanizing eye for the most significant details, Kalifa composes a charming and vivid tableau of a population continually stigmatized and circumscribed by media stereotypes.