Imad’s Childhood

After two and a half years in captivity, Imad, his younger brother, Idan, and their mother, Ghazala, are freed in a camp for displaced people in Kurdistan. It is difficult for all of them to recover from the trauma, but Imad seems to be having a particularly hard time. Not yet five years old, he has already spent more than half his life enduring terror, abuse and “training” designed to turn him into a ruthless being. Although he speaks Arabic, he struggles to communicate with his family, so the only means of expression available to him is violence.

This moving film follows him as he takes hesitant steps on the difficult road to recovery, guided and sustained by his mother, grandmother and the incredible support of a therapist.