The Division of Childhood and Youth starts producing short films, and one of them participates in many contests.

The Division of Childhood and Youth of the Department of Intellectual and Cultural Affairs at the al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine, has entered into a new artistic experience, the production of short films based on its expertise in this field. The first of its films is the short film “A hero like you", which was nominated for more than one Arab and international competition, including the International short Film Festival in Lybia and the Festival of peoples' cinema in Morocco in its fifteenth edition.

Mr. Sarmad Salem, division manager, spoke to us about this artistic achievement: "The short film industry has recently grown and flourished, due to the high demand from the public watching more videos on the internet, as well as the increasing demand from the local films' market and Internet users in Iraq. And this is why our division created, executed and produced a short film, starting from the idea to the filming, direction and production."

Adding: "The film revolves around a child contemplating the picture of his martyred father and hoping his return home. In his dreams, he hears the voice of his father as he knocks on the door. He wakes up from his sleep and rush to open the door, but nobody is there, so he comes back sad to his bed. On the teacher's day, the director of his school honors the children of the martyrs who have sacrificed their life for the sake of the liberation of the Iraqi land from the desecration of ISIL, which is a sign that the martyrs were the ones who taught people the meaning of tender and sacrifice. The heroes' children are then honored by offering them in kind gifts and the child returns home and puts the gifts next to his father's picture, promising him to become a hero like him.

Mr. Salem indicate: "The message of the film is to convey the situation of the orphans who are waiting and hoping the return of their fathers so the smile comes back to their faces, but despite their sadness, they are proud of their fathers who become their heroes. And on the other hand, the film want to show the sacrifices made by the heroes of Iraq in liberating their land from the clutches of the terrorist ISIL gangs."