Latif al-Ani, an iconic photographer born in Baghdad in 1932, is celebrated as the father of Iraqi photography, capturing the essence of Iraq from the 1950s to 1970s as its official photographer for presidents and the Iraqi Petroleum Company. After ceasing photography during Saddam Hussein’s regime, al-Ani embarks on a journey across Iraq, revisiting the people and places depicted in his photographs to uncover the remnants of a once-thriving nation. This exploration is chronicled in the documentary film “Iraq’s Invisible Beauty,” directed by Sahim Omar Kalifa and Jurgen Buedts.
