Film

Santa Claus in Baghdad

2008 · 39m

IMDb

7.6

In impoverished Baghdad under Saddam's dictatorship, 16-year-old Amal hopes to regain her social status at school by volunteering to find a book as a class gift for the departing literature teacher. Meanwhile, her emotionally fragile little brother becomes obsessed with the notion that a visiting uncle from America--whom he confuses with Santa Claus--will bring him toys. Ashamed never to have been able to give his son a toy, the child's father sells some more prized family possessions and buys a model car for him.

Tamara Dhia

Amal

Nora Armani

Amal's Mother

Demosthenes Chrysan

Amal's Father

May Calamawy

Hala (as May El Calamawy)

John Rahal Sarrouf

Mr. Kareem

Miriam Habib

Student 1

Alexandra Nader

Student 2

Ameena Sais

Rafeeka

Sara Hassan

Deena

Dody Eid

Bilal

David Zaki

Sami

Marie-Thérèse Abou-Daoud

Bilal's Teacher

Manny Piatos

Uncle Omar

Monica Farrington

Fareeda

Nikhail Asnani

Fareeda's Son

Nadia Hassan

Fareeda's Daughter

• Raouf ZakiWriter · Director · Editor · Casting
• Elsa MarstonWriter
• Hana ZakiCasting

Release date

August 9, 2008

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

39m