July 2017, Mosul is freed but left in ruins. Ghadeer, a young journalist who fled to Brussels when Mosul fell into the hands of ISIS, decides to abandon the promise of a future in Europe to return to the city that had seen him growing up. He and several friends create Radio One FM, a radio station independent from any religious, communitarianism or political ties, one that could help to restore social and political dialogue as well as peaceful coexistence in a war-torn society.The first two years are utopic for the team of journalists. Radio One gains a national audience thanks to its documentation of the country’s hardships. But without external financing nor advertisement, the Radio faces economic instability, trying to overcome its situation by opening a café whose revenues are supposed to finance it. The story of Radio One mirrors the disillusion progressively affecting the Iraqi people as their country teeters once again on the edge of chaos, 20 years after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and its promises of democracy and state-building.
Biography:
Chiara Avesani has worked for many years for RAI Italian National Public TV, for investigative programs such as 'Report' and reporting on environmental topics. As a freelance journalist, she collaborated with Al Jazeera America for 'Compass', a foreign policy program, and 'America Tonight', covering stories on the migrant exodus and she reported from Mosul Sky news. She is known for Erasmus in Gaza, Don't Come Back - Dans les ruines de Mossoul and Rom: Bellezza im Schatten der Ewigkeit.
Matteo Delbò is a filmmaker. After graduating from the “Scuola Nazionale di Cinema” in Rome, he won the David di Donatello Prize for best Short Film. He did live broadcast for many years for the first Italian newspaper website “il Corriere della Sera” following natural emergencies, demonstrations and riots and following migrant rescue operations boarded on a military ship for the 2013 operation “Mare Nostrum”. For Al Jazeera English, he has filmed a documentary for the program 'Witness,’ and has worked for Sky news from Mosul, Iraq.
