I spent time last week with Mohanad Hayal, a talented Iraqi filmmaker, chatting with him in the drawing room of his new home in Baghdad. The wall behind him has a very cool painting of Uma Thurman from the Pulp Fiction poster — where she's lying on her stomach, with a 'Sadhana cut', alluring cleavage, stilettoed feet crossed behind her, and smoking a cigarette (or more). "You like?" he asks. "Great," I nod. He shows me another portrait of Al Pacino in Scarface, painted on the wall opposite.

Filmmaker Mohanad Hayal in Baghdad during a Skype call from his home in Baghdad. On the wall is Uma Thurman and on the right is Yassir, his Arabic-English interpreter in Estonia. Pic/Meenakshi Shedde