Brothers As’ad (12) and Taha (28) barely scrape a living as rubbish pickers in ‘Hanging Gardens’ – the local nickname for Baghdad’s smouldering dumps – yet they make the most of what they have. Then one day, As’ad discovers an American sex doll. When he brings the taboo item home and presents her as a thing of beauty, Taha assaults his little brother for ruining their reputation. As’ad retreats to Hanging Gardens to make a new home for himself and his miraculous find. When As’ad and his friend Amir (14) discover she can speak, they teach her the language of seduction in Arabic and set her to work. Business skyrockets, raising their profile lucratively with local teens and dangerously with the local patriarch’s enforcers.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
