Success story: Human Film

film posterMohamed Al-Daradjihuman film


A film written, directed and produced by Leeds Met graduates has received two awards at the Berlin International Film Festival 2010.  ‘Son of Babylon’ is the second feature film for ‘Human Film’ and it unearths Iraq’s hidden horrors as it takes its audience on a journey through Iraq in 2003, just after the fall of Saddam Hussein.  Son of Babylon was awarded the Amnesty International Film Prize Award & the Peace Prize Award and has been sold to many countries around the world including Colombia, The Benelux, Finland and Sinagpore.

Son of Babylon was also shown as an entry in the ‘World Cinema Dramatic Competition’ as part of the Sundance Film Festival 2010 in the USA.  The film was one of only fourteen short-listed for the competition from thousands of entries from around the world.  Both screenings have catapulted Human Film into the lime light as an international film company.

Human Film is an award-winning European film production company collectively housing over 25 years of filmmaking experience. They have an uncompromised passion for communicative film–making and are involved in all aspects of film production from development to distribution. They are a UK based company that has recently launched in the Netherlands and is hoping to launch in France soon following collaboration on new film Kosher that they have co-produced. 

Mohamed Al-Daradji, Isabelle Stead and Danny Evans formed Human Film in 2006 after graduating from the Northern Film School with Masters degrees in Film and Moving Image.  Their feature debut film ‘Ahlaam’ received international recoginition when it represented Iraq for the Oscar and Golden Globe Awards in 2007.
 
During their early stages of start-up Human Film utilised a number of services offered by Business Start-Up @ Leeds Met, including meetings with our in house business advisor and the Proof of Concept grant of £1000.  They also won our annual Business Concept Competition receiving the first prize of £2000. Isabelle said: ‘Winning the competition is a great surprise and a fantastic opportunity for Human Film...preparing our pitch helped us to refine our concept and really think about the future of our business’’.

In 2009 at the Going Global award ceremony in Leeds organised by Yorkshire Forward, Human Film were awarded ‘Best Overseas Initiative’ for their efforts in Kurdistan and Iraq training, where they trained local people to develop their filmmaking skills. 

“We were pleasantly surprised to win this award in recognition of the
work we have done! This is a great boost for us to continue in our
efforts to raise the profile of Human Film internationally” said Isabelle.

Human Film have recently taken work with humanitarian causes to the next level by started a charity ‘Iraq’s Missing Campaign’, which aims to bring international recognition for the genocide and to unearth and identify thousands of Iraqis still missing and unidentified in mass graves across the country.  The campaign is intended to promote peace and reconcilation in the country.

We are arguably one of the most unusual businesses working in film as well as charity and education, but we have proven what an incredibly successful and rewarding venture that can be. Unlike most film companies we have proven we are able to cash flow ourselves whilst raising our turnover and building beyond our own expectations” said Isabelle.



For more information on Human Film, take a look at their website www.humanfilm.co.uk

 

 

Updated March 2010