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With
the end of Saddam-era censorship, many cinemas look
to profit from demand for porn movies.
Twenty-five-year-old Nawzad was looking at a poster
advertising a racy Turkish film.
After 15 minutes of staring at the poster, which
featured sex scenes, he went to the al-Rasheed
cinema counter and bought a movie ticket.
"I'm a young unmarried man and I'm not in a
relationship," said Nawzad, who declined to give his
full name. "It's my second time here to watch this
film."
Movies featuring sex scenes and nudity are becoming
more popular across Iraq because of the end of
Saddam-era censorship, when officials would
regularly visit cinemas to make sure they were not
showing porn and other banned films.
But because Sulaimaniyah is free of religious
extremists and other militants - who target liquor
stores and other "immoral" commercial enterprises in
other parts of Iraq - business is even more brisk.
Noori Jameel al-Madfa'i, general manager of the al-Rasheed
cinema, said his most popular films are those with
sex scenes. He shows these titles three to four days
a week, with 150-200 people turning up for each
viewing. He said his customers are men between the
ages of 17 and 45.
"We can show any film in the hall, as there is no
censorship of films from any government parties," he
said.
Ahmed Abdul-Hussein, a Baghdad resident, is in
Sulaimaniyah looking for work in construction. In
his free time, he sometimes goes to see movies
featuring sex scenes.
"I'm here for 15 days, away from my wife," said
Abdul-Hussein, 40, who has four children. "I come to
the cinema to see these films to satisfy a few of my
sexual desires."
Dilshad Mustafa, who is responsible for media in
Iraqi Kurdistan's ministry of culture, said there's
real demand for these movies and the government
allows them so as not to be accused of censorship.
"Yes some cinemas in Sulaimaniyah only show sex and
seduction films," Mustafa said. "The reason is that
a large number of young people turn out to watch
these films, increasing profits for the cinema
owners."
Parween Hasan, head of the Sulaimaniyah branch of
the Kurdistan Women's Union, said because Iraq is
largely a Muslim and conservative society, movies
featuring sex scenes provide an outlet for people.
"The customs and habits of the Kurdish family have
intensified the sexual inhibition of the youth, both
male and female, in Sulaimaniyah," she said.
Mohammed Abood al-Mishadani, owner of Baghdad's al-Moroog
movie importing company, said pornographic films are
the most popular requests from cinema owners."[They]
rarely ask for action and romance movies," he said.
Al-Mishadani said even cinemas in some towns
threatened by insurgents show sex films, albeit less
graphic examples than those running in the more
stable parts of the country.
The fashion for pornography, though, often angers
other cinema-going audiences.
"Families can not go to the cinemas nowadays because
the movies are immoral, and because the audiences
are mostly drunk," said Baghdad resident Kareem al-Nedawi,
reflecting a widely-held view.
Yaseen Madhloom is an IWPR trainee in Sulaimaniyah.
www.iwpr.net
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