21/03/2003 - After thirty years in Paris, an Iranian director decides to return home and ends up making a hard-hitting documentary about the horrors perpetrated by Saddam Hussein

Following the coalition forces’ attack on Iraq, the organisers of the Amnesty Film Festival on in Amsterdam from 20-30 March decided to make some changes and opened the event wiht the screening of a documentary entitled Baghdad On/Off by Saad Salman, an Iranian-born director who’s lived in Paris for the last thirty years. Some time ago, Salman decided to return home to visit his sick mother and took his digital camcorder with him. His problems began after he entered the country and, accompanied by a guide, decided to visit refugee camps where he met with UN peacekeeping forces and with some of the numerous victims of Saddam Hussein’s terror tactics. The resulting film is a real body blow.
For the next three days of its duration, the festival will concentrate on screening some thirty films and documentaries on the human rights issue.