Nowhere to Hide
Norway/Sweden/Iraq, Feature Documentary, 2016, 86 min
This nerve-wracking masterpiece is, by IDFA standards, the best documentary in the world this year. The entire camera crew is Nori Sharif, a male nurse in a hospital in Jalawla, Iraq, who films through five years in one of the world’s most dangerous and inaccessible areas├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├óΓé¼┬¥the ├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├àΓÇ£triangle of death├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├é┬¥ in central Iraq. Survivors hope for a better future as coalition troops retreat from Iraq in 2011, but various Iraqi militias attack repeatedly, and the population flees, accompanied by most of the hospital staff. Nori is one of the few who remain. When ISIS advances on Jalawla in 2014 and takes over the city, Nori must flee with his family at a moment’s notice, and turns the camera on himself.
Directed by Zaradasht Ahmed
Winner of the Top Prize at IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)
TalkBack following the film at Boulder High School
Colorado Premiere