Hene Films AS is one of many applicants to receive support from Fritt Ord in June, when it will receive NOK 250 000 for the production of the film ‘Farouk’ about the Norwegian-Iraqi geologist Farouk Al-Kasim.

Al-Kasim has often been called ’Norway’s most profitable immigrant’ because he was instrumental in ensuring that Norwegian oil production was put into Norwegian hands in the 1970s. Today, at age 90, he can look back on a long and eventful life, starting when he was sent by Iraq to London as a young man to study Petroleum Geology. It was there that he met Solfrid from Åndalsnes. His marriage to Solfrid led Farouk to Norway where he played an important part in the fledgling Norwegian oil boom. In 1968, he became the very first petroleum geologist Norway hired, in the Ministry of Industry’s Petroleum Directorate.

Personal story and new information

“This will be a cinematic documentary in which Al-Kasim tells his personal story,” says director Halkawt Mustafa. The director is behind the well-known documentary film ‘Hiding Saddam Hussein’, which had its world premiere at IDFA in Amsterdam in 2023.

The idea for the new film won a so-called ‘pitch award’ at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia in 2024. It is scheduled for international release in 2027. Janne Hjeltnes is the producer. Through Farouk’s story, the director will explore the significance of integration, natural resources and human activity, Hjeltnes wrote in her application to Fritt Ord.

The director himself elaborates.

“Farouk tells me something in this film that he has not talked about before, because he has always told the version he feels Norway wanted to hear,” says the director.

Working on the idea for years
The idea came about a few years ago when Mustafa came across an article entitled ‘The Iraqui who saved Norway from oil’.

“It made me think: here is a story from Norway that is truly global, and that I need to tell,” he adds.

“It took some time to convince Al-Kasim, but perhaps because they both have backgrounds from Iraq, the latter eventually agreed”, continues Mustafa.

He has been working on the film for more than six years, recording more than 60 hours of interviews.

“I want to portray what the world of today and tomorrow can learn from a geologist who has experienced what he has. I want to show how a geological perspective can strike a balance in one’s life. That is the headline,” comments the director.

He states that the interviews with Al-Kasim, both behind and in front of the camera, have been among the most instructive conversations of his life.

“It has felt like attending university,” smiles Mustafa.

An honest explanation of the role of oil

The lessons learnt from the geologist will be passed on by the director to the audience and first and foremost, he says, to his own children.

“Curiosity and concern about the impact of climate change on future generations are driving this project. I want an honest, straightforward explanation from a geologist, and I want a voice that is completely independent of absolutely everyone. Farouk is the right man to paint that picture of the future,” he maintains.

Or, to quote the interviewee himself, One needs knowledge to control knowledge.

The cinematic challenge so far has been to find the right means of visual expression.

bq “In a way, the material is ‘just’ an old man and his view of the world. That is harder to convey cinematically than material that has a physical location and an element of suspense,” he adds, comparing it to the hunt for the hideout of dictator Saddam Hussein.

However, the director is convinced that he and his team will rise to the challenge, and they have already commenced filming in both Norway and Iraq.

Will it give a gloomy or an optimistic picture of the future?

“You’ll see when the film is released!”

Awards in June 2025, ordinary applications for NOK 100 000 or more

See the Norwegian-language website for the list.