Iraq to Launch International Television and Video Festival

The location may be “hot” for the wrong reasons--a seven-year-old border war and precipitously falling oil prices--but the Iraqi Television Corp. is launching an international television and video festival and marketplace. And the Iraqi government, which runs the TV networks, is scouring the world for participants.

Five government-sponsored delegations peopled with critics, TV producers and government officials, are now visiting major media markets (including Los Angeles) looking for product to show at the first annual Baghdad International Television Festival, to be held from March 24-30, 1988, in the Iraqi capital. And plans are going forward in spite of the ongoing war between Iraq and Iran.

According to organizers, the festival will have two major components: a juried competition in several categories, and an international market for programming.

Hussan Sirri, head of the Los Angeles delegation and the festival’s public relations director, said in an interview that the Iraqi TV network, a government-controlled entity that is among the oldest in the Middle East, floated the idea for an international video festival earlier this year.

“We found the government wanted very badly to get new product into the region,” Sirri said. “Previously we in Iraq have been getting mostly American product from European middlemen. The idea is to open up new lines of interaction.”

Sirri added that the conflict in the region--which has brought the occasional surface-to-surface missile crashing down on Baghdad--has been the subject of some anxious inquiries from potential attendees.

“People ask us if they need to make reservations for a bunker,” said Sirri, laughing, “but I tell them the war is rather far away from our little festival.”

The festival’s competition will entertain entries in the categories of drama, comedy, variety, children’s programming, documentary and public-affairs programming. The market, for which Sirri had no estimates in terms of size or volume of product, will cover all aspects of TV programming available in Europe.

The Iraqis visiting Los Angeles--who, in addition to Sirri, include a Baghdad TV critic, an independent producer and their State Department escort--arrived last week and have been in meetings since they touched down, Sirri said. They are scheduled to depart today.

“TV people here were rather curious at the start,” he said. “They thought we were trying to sell them product. But that’s all been cleared up now. Once they understand we’re looking for just about everything, they warm right up.”

The eventual plan is for the Baghdad fest to take its place alongside the world’s other big TV/cable sellathons--MIP-TV and MIPCOM in France and the annual National Assn. of Television Program Executives convention in this country, where programming is bought and sold in high volume. Sirri said the Iraqi government is planning “at least a few” subsequent festivals after next year’s edition.