Children of Barzagh
Children of Barzagh is an internationally award-winning animated film I wrote and directed, built around a visual style that merges handcrafted animation with cinematic storytelling. From concept to final execution, every frame was drawn by hand, shaping a stylized world through movement, sound, and atmosphere.
The film premiered at the Red Sea International Film Festival, where it received the Special Mention Award. It was also selected as the opening film at the Oscar-qualifying Alexandria International Film Festival, where it received the Special Mention Prize. It went on to win multiple awards, including First Prize for Fictional Film at the Central Illinois Film Festival, Best Animated Film at the Bahrain International Film Festival, and Best Animated Film at the Baghdad Film Festival, and more.
Pre-production
Its festival run has continued with an official selection in the international competition at the Thessaloniki Animation Festival, a BAFTA-qualifying festival in Greece and one of the largest animation festivals in the world, plus further official selections in Zurich, Switzerland; Gandia, Spain; Macau, China; and festivals across Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil, the United States, and Finland. It also screened as part of Palestine Animated at the MIFA market during Annecy. Watermelon Pictures picked it up for distribution, and it's streaming now on Watermelon+.
Stills
