Past screening

The Minders

Directed by: Sean McAllister
Runtime: 0hr 50min Year: 1998

Details

Directed by: Sean McAllister
Runtime: 0hr 50min Year: 1998
Country: United Kingdom
Last Screened: Wed 9th Feb 2005

Baghdad, 1998 and the pressure is intense. Hundreds of journalists are in town and Sean McAllister is one of them.

But instead of focusing on the talking heads and the staged demonstrations, McAllister turns his camera on two “minders”, those assigned by the Iraqi Ministry of Information to patrol what foreigners see and do not see. Alla is a veteran minder, with 17 years’ experience under his belt.

Kifah is new to the job, he’s obsessed with English football and dreams of having a pint in London. His world however is in a state of disrepair, especially since the Gulf War. This film offers a rare and unusual look beyond the talking heads, at two Iraqi men and the world beyond them.