A banned blogger smuggles truth from Baghdad to London one cup of tea at a time.
A few weeks before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, an underground blogger risks his life by travelling from Baghdad to London to campaign for the lifting of UN Sanctions on Iraq. As political intrigue thwarts his heartfelt attempts to highlight the suffering of his people under the sanctions, he takes refuge at Mesocafé, a little Baghdad in West London. With their Arab, Assyrian, Jewish and Kurdish heritage, members of the Iraqi community allow him into their lives, sharing with him their stories and dreams. It is here that he meets the beautiful Bisan.
Acting
Nasri Sayegh carries the weight of a nation in his shoulders.
Production
Mesocafé itself — a living, breathing character of displaced longing.
Director
Ja'far 'Abd Al-Hamid
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Ja'far 'Abd Al-Hamid shot secretly in Iraq during active sanctions, smuggling footage out.
The cafe's mixed Arab-Jewish-Assyrian-Kurdish clientele deliberately mirrors Iraq's erased cosmopolitanism — a nation that existed before sectarian fracture.
GB
