Daily life is a struggle for Fatma, 50, who lives alone in a small reed hut amidst the marshlands of southern Iraq. With no husband or family to keep her company, she spends her days in solitude, caring for her cattle and punting through the marshes to collect reeds. But moving to the city is out of the question for Fatma, whose life, like those of other ‘Marsh Arabs’, are deeply tied to their environment, a fragile wetland that straddles the border between southern Iraq and southeastern Iran. She Was Not Alone was included in the First Independent Iraqi Film Festival’s section on “Tracking Iraq: New Wave Cinema”, which explored life within Iraq from the vantage points of its diverse communities.