Take Me to the Cinema

We follow the journey of former soldier Nassif who fled the war in Iraq by hiding in dark cinemas During this time he used to watch his favorite film Papillon 1973 starring Steve McQueen Nowadays he is looking for this film among the Iraqi cinemas ruins The search for this lost film copy in the old and obsolete cinemas becomes the sole purpose of Nassif and his primary motivation to leave his house Take me to the Cinema allows us to discover Baghdad through Nassifs eyes as he takes us to streets that contrast with his silent and quiet world A lot has changed in todays Iraq The street where cinema theaters were is now a market that sells military uniforms It is crowded with young men fitting military shirts and shoes The quest for Papillon becomes the quest of character who does not want to acknowledge the transformations of his city and who wants to cling on to its luminous past through the light of cinema and his inner world