The Survivors of Firdous Square [Al-Najun min Sahat al-Firdous]

The Survivors of Firdous Square is a short documentary about an Iraqi artist collective who experienced the destruction caused by the war in 2003. It is the story of the sculptor Bassem whose art work replaced the fallen statue of Saddam Hussein.  The work, which was symbolic of new beginnings for Iraq, soon became an embodiment of the unfolding tragedies.

Adel Khaled (b. 1981, Iraq) is a writer and director. He graduated from the Art Institute of Fine Arts of Baghdad in 2004. In 2008, he fled to Belgium where he currently resides and continues to work as a filmmaker.