A compound in Iraq, includes five cinemas,opened its doors earlier this year in front of the people of Basra's oil-rich city, after 13 years without cinema theaters.

The project is funded by "Mini Basra," an investment project aims to promote cultural activities in the city.

Basra city, in southern Iraq, witnessed the return of cinema after a long hiatus caused by a period of unrest in the country. The film industry and cinemas in Iraq have been destroyed by successive wars and strict sanctions imposed on the country during the era of the nineties of the last century and extremist attacks.

The Executive Director of Mini Basra project, Ramadan al-Badran, said that the compound cost about four million dollars and has the equipment and modern display and sound systems.

Cinemas halls are five, by total absorption of 700 scenes distributed over the halls, and theaters are also equipped with the finest and the latest audio and display devices, al-Badran added.

Cinema is a culture can deliver dozens of letters to the community and a lot of civilized cities around the world,  even in the Muslim world there are cinematic theaters that can deliver expressive messages to their communities about its reality, its pain and its ambitions,  and this is what I've missed in Basra over more 13 year, but today we celebrate this experience in Basra, Iraqi citizen said.