The characters in the film take a journey that many think Iraq now needs to take itself. (Courtesy Mohamad Daradji)
In "Son of Babylon," Shazada Hussein (right) plays a grandmother who takes her grandson south to Babylon to hunt for her son, missing after fighting in Kuwait, in prisons and mass graves. (Courtesy Mohamad Daradji)
The film's Iraq premiere packed out the long-defunct Semiramis cinema in Baghdad. (Alice Fordham/GlobalPost)
The opening was held in broad daylight as it is not safe to have cultural events at night in Baghdad. (Alice Fordham/GlobalPost)
A tattered red carpet adorned the steps of a battered Semiramis facade. (Alice Fordham/GlobalPost)
Shazada Hussein (right), who plays the grandmother in the film, is a Kurdish villager who lost her husband in the 1990s and had never acted before. (Courtesy Mohamad Daradji)
The characters in the film take a journey that many think Iraq now needs to take itself. (Courtesy Mohamad Daradji)
