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HDI Bulletin

“Gift of My Father” by Salam Salman wins the Crystal Bear for Short Film at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival

February 20, 2015 - For Immediate Release

The Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI) is proud to announce that “Gift of My Father” by Salam Salman has won the Crystal Bear for Short Film in the Generation Kplus Division at the Berlin Film Festival 2015. This film is one of six made under Humpty Dumpty’s 2013/14 edition of its International Film Exchange program (IFE). The 2013/14 program was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and brought six young Iraqi filmmakers to the United States to advance their filmmaking skills and to become acquainted with American culture and American values. “Gift of My Father” focuses on the imaginary journey of a boy whose father was killed during the second Gulf War.

The Humpty Dumpty Institute arranged for the Iraqi filmmakers to take a two week course at the UCLA School of Film and Television and visited studios and production facilities throughout Los Angeles. Prior to their arrival in the United States, Humpty Dumpty sent noted independent filmmaker Bill Megalos to Baghdad to prepare the emerging Iraqi filmmakers for their time in Los Angeles and to work with critically acclaimed Iraqi filmmaker Mohamed al Daradji, founder of the International Film Institute of Iraq (CHECK) in preparing them for their program in the United States.

The Humpty Dumpty Institute’s International Film Exchange (IFE) brings filmmakers from around the world, especially from security challenged countries, to the United States for specialized training and study. In addition to creating important people-to-people relations, the program helps filmmakers better present a counter narrative to those which espouse extremist ideologies and to present them to a wide as audience in their home countries. The IFE arose from Humpty Dumpty’s signature cultural program, the Global Creative Forum. As William Rouhana, Humpty Dumpty’s founder and Chairman of the Board, said referring to the Global Creative Forum, “The Global Creative Forum brought the Hollywood community into the work of Humpty Dumpty. The next step was to bring film industry professionals to other countries in which the Humpty Dumpty Institute has had humanitarian and U.S. Congressional programs.”

The Humpty Dumpty Institute plans to do additional programs with international filmmakers in 2015.

The Humpty Dumpty Institute is a unique non-profit organization serving people in the developing world through the implementation of large-scale humanitarian projects and through its work with the United Nations. Over the past six years, HDI has implemented significant mine action, agricultural development and school feeding projects in Angola, Mozambique, Lebanon, Laos, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. These projects are sponsored by individuals, foundations and governments. In addition, HDI fosters dialogue and implements programs between the United Nations and a variety of constituencies in the United States including the U.S. Congress, universities and the creative community, all of which are designed to help the U.N. become an even more effective Institution. For more information, please visit our website at www.thehdi.org.