Reframing the homeland : narratives of return in post-2003 Iraqi documentary films

The 2003 U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq saw the proliferation of images of the
Middle East in Western media. These visual narratives have systematically neglected Iraqi voices
and proposed stereotyped and debasing representations of Arabs and Muslims. This framing of war
and of the Middle East has contributed to the justification of military intervention and occupation.
In such an overwhelming mediascape, Iraqis have struggled to narrate their own version of the
country’s recent history. The present article deals with a significant, albeit understudied, output of
Iraqis’ efforts to challenge hegemonic visual narratives about their country, namely the documentary
film. It discusses some of the work of Iraqi exilic filmmakers, who returned to their homeland
to witness the consequences of war. Their filmmaking conveys the urgency of testimony, of selfrepresentation,
and of preserving the cultural and human heritage of the country against loss and
destruction. The article especially focuses on the film Homeland: Iraq Year Zero (2015), by Abbas
Fahdel, as a major example of Iraqi filmic return narratives. In the films discussed, family portraits
and personal stories are entangled with the major, contested history of the country. A choral and
polyphonic visual archive emerge, which constitutes a precious tool for the historiography of Iraq.