Sari’s Mother

Synopsis

An Iraqi mother seeks health care for her 10-year-old son, who is dying of AIDS, against a background of war and occupation. The Zegum family lives in the restive Mahmudiyah area of central Iraq. They make their living by selling milk and butter, farming land rented from their neighbors. As the film opens US military helicopters are flying low over their fields. Sari’s mother administers injections to her son, whose condition is gradually deteriorating as his immune system fails. She seeks help in Baghdad’s hospitals and ministries, but discovers that the Iraqi healthcare system is in even worse condition under US occupation than before the war.

Director Biography

Born in Oregon in 1972. He studied film at the University of Rochester and Wesleyan University in the United States, and the All‐Russian Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow. His documentary films show intimate portraits of ordinary people living in the Middle East, under conditions of war and economic devastation.