''Farewell Baghdad'' ( he, מפריח היונים, lit. ''The Dove Flyer''; ar, مطير الحمام, Muṭayr al-Ḥammām) is an Israeli film based on the novel with the same name, by Iraqi-born Jewish writer

Eli Amir Eli Amir ( he, אלי עמיר; Arabic:ايلى عمير) (September 26, 1937) is an Iraqi-born Israeli writer and civil servant. He served as director general of the Youth Aliyah Department of the Jewish Agency. Biography Amir was born Fuad Elia ...

. The film was directed by Nissim Dayan, who also wrote the screenplay. The idea for the film was conceived by actress Ahuva Keren, and the script was translated by her into Judeo-Arabic. The making of the film was completed in 2013, but the film itself was commercially released in April 2014. Over nearly two hours, and through the story of a 16-year-old Jewish boy, ''Farewell Baghdad'' depicts the story of the last days of the Baghdad Jewish community of the 1950s, and on the eve of the

Aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

of almost all of that community to Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. At that time, The Kingdom of Iraq was struggling to overcome its defeat in the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

against the nascent

State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and was torn between Royalism, separatism and communism. On the other hand, the world's oldest Jewish community, which numbered at the time about a sixth of the population of the capital of Baghdad, also grappled between their historical and cultural relationship with the Iraqi people, the growing support for the communist movement, and their solidarity with the State of Israel and Zionism. ''Farewell Baghdad'' is the first Judeo-Arabic-language film in the history of cinema (specifically, Baghdad Jewish Arabic), and as traditionally is with the Jews of Iraq, it is inserted with phrases from the scriptures (such as "Bar Minan", " Tisha B'Av" etc.) in their traditional Iraqi Hebrew pronunciations. When the Jewish characters talk with Arab Muslims, the dialect changes slightly and becomes a Muslim Iraqi Arabic.

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2013 films 2010s historical drama films Films based on Israeli novels Israeli historical drama films 2010s Arabic-language films Jewish Iraqi history Films set in Baghdad {{Israel-film-stub