Mijn vader, Nour en ik

Wiam Al-Zabari

When he was 13, Wiam Al-Zabari had to flee Iraq with his mother and siblings. However, during this frightening time, his father wasn’t there. Now Wiam undertakes a loving and intense search for his father’s and families’ history. Told in a personal, touching message to his own son Nour.

Twenty-five years ago, filmmaker Wiam Al-Zabari’s family fled Baghdad in the middle of the night. His father was waiting for them in the Netherlands. But when they were finally reunited, his father was a broken man. This traumatized young Wiam. In the years that followed, however, the subject was never discussed.

Now Wiam is a father himself. In My Father, Nour and I, he breaks the silence and starts talking to his father, mother, brother and sister. He is determined to understand what has happened. And most of all: not to burden his 9-year-old son Nour with the same heaviness that his father, unwillingly, placed on him. The result is a beautiful, often humorous and very personal story of a loving family where each member – and each generation – has it’s own story and memories.  

Credits

Director
Wiam Al-Zabari
Producer
Iris Lammertsma & Boudewijn Koole, Hasse van Nunen & Renko Douze
Year
2023
Country of production
Netherlands, The
Type
Documentary
Duration
56 minutes
Spoken language
Arabic, Dutch
Subtitles
EN
Production company
Een van de jongens & Witfilm