Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji

Iraq
Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji is an Iraqi-British writer and director and an alumnus of Berlinale Talents 2018. The success of his short film My Name Is Mohammed (2010) earned him a place at London Film School, where he received an MA with distinction for his short Children of God (2013). The film also brought him several awards in 2015: the Muhr Award for Best Arab Short, the Fabrisci Award, the Seoul Guro award for the best live action short, and the Jury Award at the Disabled Film Festival in Cannes. Ahmed's debut feature film Hanging Gardens (2022) received development support from the Royal Film Commission (Jordan) and AFAC and won awards at the Venice Biennial, the Gouna Film Festival and the Red Sea Film Festival. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2022 and won the awards for best film and cinematic achievement at the Red Sea Film Festival.