2015 Short Film Clip Shared As ‘Soldier Saying Goodbye’ To Family

The clip of a ‘soldier saying goodbye’ to his family during war is actually from a 2015 short film called ‘Dialing’.

An old video showing a man dressed in combat clothing bidding an emotional farewell to his mother and brother while in the middle of an attack, where gunshots can be heard, is doing the rounds on social media. Users have shared the video claiming that it shows a soldier saying goodbye to his family during a war.

However, we found that the video was a clipped version of a short film titled Dialing, which shows a mother of a deceased Iraqi soldier trying to contact her son while rejecting any evidence of his death.

CLAIM

The video has been shared across social media platforms with the claim: "Soldier says goodbye to family during war".

Some users shared a YouTube link carrying the viral visuals with the same claim. More claims on Facebook and Twitter can be seen here, here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

With the help of InVID, we fragmented the video, and found an older and longer version of the viral video. This 17:22-minute-long video was uploaded in 2015 on Dubai International Film Festival’s official YouTube channel.

The caption along with the video read: 'DIFF 2015 – Dialing'.

We then searched using keywords ‘Dialing Dubai International Film Festival’ and found a news report by Gulf News, which discussed the short films showcased at the film festival and mentioned that Dialing was directed by Bahaa Al Kadimy.

Using his name and Dialing as keywords, we found the director’s YouTube channel.

We came across the clip in question on the director’s YouTube channel and it was uploaded on 2 July 2015 with the title: ‘Bahaa Al Kazemi - Calling in progress’.

Under this video, the director posted a link to the full short film, which was uploaded to his channel in 2017.

In the full film's description in Arabic, the director states, “The film participated in more than (40) international festivals, and won (12) international prizes. World premiere: Dubai International Film Festival 2015.”

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