Baghdad-INA-Ahmed Smeisim
The Iraqi film (Transit), written by Yasser Musa and directed by Baqer Al-Rubaie, won the Grand Prize (Golden Falcon) at the 37th International Amateur Film Festival in Tunisia, under the slogan (Save Gaza). The film stars the film artist Asaad Abdul Majeed.
Director Baqer Al-Rubaie said in a statement to the (INA): “The film deals with the story of (Yaqoub), who works in the statistics department in a hospital. He answers calls from victims’ families who ask about their missing persons, and from time to time he gets annoyed by a call that raises suspicion and anxiety for him.”
He added: “All the films I have directed reflect the reality we live in, which are the wars that have destroyed the peoples of the world, especially the Arab world. In this film, I wanted to say that the victims of wars are increasing, and we must stop the wars that are happening, and this is what the film wanted to convey.”
He pointed out that “the film (Transit) won the Grand Prize (Golden Falcon) at the 37th International Amateur Film Festival in Kelibia, Tunisia, which was held by the Tunisian Association of Amateur Filmmakers with the support of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and was held in Tunis-Klibia between August 17-24 under the slogan (Save Gaza). The activities of this session coincided with the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the festival in 1964. The film stars the artist Asaad Abdul Majeed, and was photographed by the cinematographer Mohamed Kamel.”
He explained that “the festival is the oldest amateur film event in Tunisia, after the numerous participations of the film (Transit), which began its journey towards participating in festivals at the beginning of 2023 in more than 40 international festivals and won many awards, the most important of which is the Best Film Award from the European Film Festival for Independent Cinema in Paris held in France in 2023 in its first European screening, the Special Jury Award from the Malmö Arab Film Festival held in Sweden in 2024, the Best Short Narrative Film Award, the Golden Award, from the Baghdad International Film Festival in its first session 2024, the Best Short Narrative Film Award from the Fifth Cinemana International Festival held in the Sultanate of Oman, the Silver Khilal Award from the Medenine International Film Festival held in Tunisia in 2023, and important participations in the Saudi Film Festival 2024, the Tripoli Festival in Lebanon 2023, the Ismailia Film Festival 2023, the Kazan Film Festival in Russia, the Duhok International Film Festival 2023, the Baku Film Festival in Azerbaijan, and many festivals.” 
He said: “We demand the establishment of a production support fund for Iraqi films on a regular basis and the allocation of a sufficient financial budget to support cinema,” explaining that “the emergency grant to support cinema that was launched at the beginning of 2023 amounted to 3 million dollars, but what happened was the delay in the cinema support grant while all grants were disbursed, including drama and support for the Writers’ Union.”