Oscars 2016: «Iraqi Odyssey» is Switzerland's Academy Award Entry

A family story becomes world history: “Iraqi Odyssey” provides a unique view of a country marked by war and laden with stereotypes in the media. Recounting the stories of his extended family living in exile all over the world, film director Samir unfolds the history of his home country and shows us a secular, well-educated, liberal-minded Iraq. “Iraqi Odyssey” is a captivating work that gives rise to a visually compelling, new dimension in the documentary narrative with 3-D technology.

The 162-minute documentary film celebrated its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014 and was screened at the Berlinale in the Panorama section in January 2015. The Swiss film, coproduced with Germany, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, can boast an impressive international festival career. “Iraqi Odyssey” has distributors in a number of European countries. Samir’s film starts in cinemas in Germany on September 24 (distributor: NFP), and in Austria in mid-October (distributor: Polyfilm). World sales are with Autlook Filmsales.

Swiss director Samir, born in Baghdad in 1955, is delighted about the decision. “After the astonishing success of “Iraqi Odyssey” in Swiss cinemas, I am all the more excited about the jury’s selection. In doing so, it sets a courageous example, representing an open-minded Switzerland among the Oscar contenders. And for that, I would like to express my sincere gratitude.”

SWISS FILMS, the promotion agency, will coordinate the Oscar campaign on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood will announce the Oscar nominations on January 14, 2016. The award ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on February 28. 

SWISS FILMS August 28, 2015

Festivals (selection)
New Zealand International Film Festival 2015
32nd Jerusalem Film Festival 2015
Beldocs 2015 International Documentary Film Festival
17° BAFICI, Competition, 2015 
30. Panorama Berlin, 2015 
50. Solothurner Filmtage, 2015 
25e Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage, 2014 
8th Abu Dhabi Film Festival, Competition, 2014 
38a Mostra Internacional del Cinema de Sao Paulo, 2014 
10. Zurich Film Festival, 2014 
Festival do Rio - Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, 2014 
39th Toronto International Film Festival, 2014

Awards
Awards: Best Asian Film Award, Abu Dhabi Film Festival 
3rd Audience Award, Berlinale 2015

Quotes
Single-monikered helmer Samir uses members of his extended family as archetypes of this diaspora in his overlong yet surprisingly engrossing docu, “Iraqi Odyssey,” designed to capture the vicissitudes of Iraq’s troubled history via one clan’s personal take on the last century.[...] An impressive amount of archival material, nicely edited and accompanied by appropriate music tracks, acts as both family album and chronicle of a lost world. Jay Weissberg, Variety

It’s definitely an ambitious project but it’s created with such sincerity and depth that it almost becomes true. Georgia Del Don, Cineuropa

Iraqi Odyssey aims ambitiously high in its investigation of the effects of history on one large middle class family, and it succeeds in conveying a sense of impotent regret felt by family members forced into exile around the world. Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter

Weblinks
Website «Iraqi Odyssey»
Cinéportrait Samir
Photo Gallery