‘Hiding Saddam’ documentary earns $1 million in opening weeks
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The documentary “Hiding Saddam Hussein,” the project of Kurdish director Halkawt Mustafa, has grossed over $1 million in 17 days across seven Arab countries.
The documentary tells the story of Alaa Namiq, who hid the former Baath Party leader for 235 days in a village south of Tikrit while thousands of US troops searched for him after he was ousted from power in 2003.
It previously was screened in Tunisia and Morocco. The United Arab Emirates recorded the highest number of attendees with 44,034, accounting for nearly 60% of the total revenue.
“What interested me is telling the story from a cinematic perspective. I hope that the viewers can understand me,” Mustafa told Rudaw on Tuesday.
The documentary has been screening in the Kurdistan Region since July 21, grossing more than $128,000.
On March 20, 2003, the United States and its allies launched an operation in Iraq, ending Hussein’s rule. The dictator initially escaped capture before being found by US forces in a pit near his hometown of Tikrit on December 13, 2003.
He was sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Shiites and was hanged on December 30, 2006, before the conclusion of his trial for other crimes like Anfal.
The Anfal campaign, named after a chapter in the Quran, was the codename for the dictator’s operation to exterminate around 182,000 Kurds in a genocidal campaign from February to September 1988.
Hussein’s Baathist regime was also responsible for the chemical attack on the Kurdish city on March 16, 1988, at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. Iraqi warplanes rained down a lethal cocktail of chemical weapons, killing at least 5,000 people instantly, mostly women and children, and leaving an untold number of survivors with lingering burns, breathing difficulties, and other lingering health problems.
The documentary tells the story of Alaa Namiq, who hid the former Baath Party leader for 235 days in a village south of Tikrit while thousands of US troops searched for him after he was ousted from power in 2003.
It previously was screened in Tunisia and Morocco. The United Arab Emirates recorded the highest number of attendees with 44,034, accounting for nearly 60% of the total revenue.
“What interested me is telling the story from a cinematic perspective. I hope that the viewers can understand me,” Mustafa told Rudaw on Tuesday.
The documentary has been screening in the Kurdistan Region since July 21, grossing more than $128,000.
On March 20, 2003, the United States and its allies launched an operation in Iraq, ending Hussein’s rule. The dictator initially escaped capture before being found by US forces in a pit near his hometown of Tikrit on December 13, 2003.
He was sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Shiites and was hanged on December 30, 2006, before the conclusion of his trial for other crimes like Anfal.
The Anfal campaign, named after a chapter in the Quran, was the codename for the dictator’s operation to exterminate around 182,000 Kurds in a genocidal campaign from February to September 1988.
Hussein’s Baathist regime was also responsible for the chemical attack on the Kurdish city on March 16, 1988, at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. Iraqi warplanes rained down a lethal cocktail of chemical weapons, killing at least 5,000 people instantly, mostly women and children, and leaving an untold number of survivors with lingering burns, breathing difficulties, and other lingering health problems.