ARABIAN SIGHTS
East Coast Premiere

Irkalla: Gilgamesh's Dream

Irkalla Hulm Jijiljamish

MOHAMED JABARAH AL-DARADJI
Iraq, UAE, Qatar, France, UK, Saudi Arabia, 2025
109 minutes, Color

Beneath Baghdad's bridges and bustling streets, 9-year-old orphan and dreamer Chum-Chum and 13-year-old rebel Moody navigate the city's unforgiving reality with youthful determination. Inspired by the legend of Gilgamesh, Chum-Chum (Youssef Husham Al-Thahabi) clings to the belief that he will be reunited with his beloved parents in the blue-black waters of the Tigris. Moody (Hussein Raad Zuwayr) survives through cunning; he plots and steals in an attempt to obtain safe passage to the Netherlands for Chum-Chum and his sister Sarah (Lojin Star Naimal). As Chum-Chum's mythic vision deepens, it collides with danger: Moody's tasks for a violent militia leader and a world shaped by adults consumed by militant grief. In Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji's soulful approach, ancient Iraq, the birthplace of the world's oldest known written work of literature, echoes through the present and shapes an epic and deeply moving story of loss and resilience.—Judy Bloch

In Arabic with English subtitles