While
Iraq's first film projection took place in 1909, cinema was not truly regarded as a cultural activity or pastime until the 1920s. The first cinemas, like the famous al-Zawra'a Cinema on
Baghdad's bustling thoroughfare
al-Rasheed Street, played mostly
American silent films for British citizens. In the 1940s under the rule of
King Faisal II of Iraq, a real Iraqi cinema began. Supported by
British and
French financiers, movie production companies established themselves in Baghdad. The Baghdad Studio was established in 1948, but soon came apart when tensions between the Arab and Jewish founders flared up. For the most part, the product was purely commercial, fluffy romances with plenty of singing and dancing often set in small villages. After Iraq started attacks against
Kuwait,
sanctions against Iraq and later the 2003 invasion made filmmaking an impossibility in the country, although a new generation of filmmakers is coming alive in
Baghdad. Among the few films produced by Iraq during that period was the 1993 film " King Ghazi ", written and scripted by Moaz Yousef, and directed by Mohammed Shukri Jamil . The film dealt with the biography of King Ghazi, who ruled Iraq in the 1930s.
2003 to present The Iraqi Independent Film Center was established in 2003. In 2014 the Ministry of Culture allocated millions of dollars to fund film production, but as of 2021, only one film project has been supported. ==Notable Iraqi Actors==