Samawa, located midway between Baghdad and Basra, has suffered its fair share of conflict. As recently as last May a government office and a bus station in the Iraqi city were attacked in a double car bombing. The attack killed at least 32 people and wounded another 85.

But the arts have been its saviour, sustaining the populace through the direst of hardships. For hundreds of years it has been a vibrant centre of culture, boasting many prominent poets, painters and sculptors, and this rich heritage continues to sustain the area to this day.

The Samawa Cinema group regularly organises short tours of cinema screenings and Encore Films is delighted that The Red Rose – a modern-day Alice in Wonderland story sub-titled “A musical fantasy for the child in all of us” – has been chosen to appear in a programme of films that will be screened to audiences free of charge in large cinemas and in open-air spaces.

To the music of Tchaikovsky, and with award-winning choreography such as the “March of the Bluebells” above by Jacqueline Harman, the film is well travelled. If it was a human being, its passport would be well-thumbed by now!  It has been seen all around the world from the United States to Austria, from Croatia to Canada, from the Czech Republic and Australia and throughout the UK to…everywhere.

Starring (above) Jessie Talulah as the Girl/Princess Victoria  and Nicholas Anscombe as the Young Man/Prince William, and featuring young dancers from The Jacqueline Harman School of Ballet, The Red Rose was recently voted Best Short Film at the Christian Film Festival in Virginia, USA. In Australia it was awarded the Cineman trophy for Best Film in the General Section at the Melbourne International Movie Festival, while in the Czech Republic it collected a prestigious UNICA Gold Medal (Union Internationale du Cinema) at the Moravian ARSfilm Festival (Arts Film Festival).

The film also features Michael Aston as the Girl’s father, the Grand Duke, and Greg Page as the Cardinal who marries the couple, with the brilliant Phil Sayer as the voiceover Narrator. We now wish our Red Rose and the rest of the cast all the best in the blistering 40C-plus heat of summertime Iraq!