The Circuit

After reading Bryan Pearson's report here on the on-off-on Baghdad International Film Festival you wonder who actually showed up.  LA Times' Kimi Yoshino says here there was a red carpet, TV crews, and a "largely hipster Iraqi crowd enjoying its rare moment in the spotlight." 

Has Iraq come that far that they now have a "hipster" scene? 

The AFP photo above (from this story) probably reflects the scene more accurately.  Reuter's Mussab Al-Khairalla chose better, more accurate words:

Behind concrete blast walls and battling a flickering power supply, Baghdad's international film festival opened in a hotel on Wednesday in another sign of how improved security is bringing life back to the city.

There was even a red carpet rolled out, but guests to the event last held in 2005 had to be body-searched three times before they were allowed to walk down it.