Isis, Tomorrow. The Lost Souls of Mosul - Purchase Now
Contact us
if you can't find the right license option for your library.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Please make sure your school supports IP Authentication through VPN or a Proxy Server before making your purchase. If not sure, please
contact us.
Coming Soon
Thank you for your interest in our latest release. This film will be available for educational distribution
shortly.
Please fill in your email details below and we will contact you with additional information.
Isis, Tomorrow. The Lost Souls of Mosul - Login To Watch
To start watching, please select your school and use your professor or student login
Name of School / University
Film Platform is currently not offered at your university. Request access to Film Platform by completing the form below.
To start watching you first need to log in to your university using your professor or student login. Once you are logged please refresh and start watching.
Please follow the Log In link in the top right corner.
If you cannot find your university in the list above, fill the details below to request access to Film Platform.
Back
Book a Screening
Thank you for your interest in holding a screening of
Isis, Tomorrow. The Lost Souls of Mosul. Please let us know a couple of key details, and we will be in touch with you ASAP to book in a
screening.
Streaming Enquiry
Choose from the following options:
My school already has streaming access
Request streaming access through my library
Streaming access purchase options
Other
Back
Unverified IP
Hmmm… you appear to be coming from an unverified IP address.
If you are coming from off campus, your university may request additional login details. Please select your university name in order to access streaming via your library's network.
Name of School / University
Film Platform is currently not offered at your university. Request access to Film Platform by completing the form below.
To start watching you first need to log in to your university using your professor or student login. Once you are logged please refresh and start watching.
Please follow the Log In link in the top right corner.
If you cannot find your university in the list above, fill the details below to request access to Film Platform.
Open troubleshooting
Your IP is: 54.208.73.179
Please contact support@filmplatform.net with the name of your insitution and a screenshot of this page so that we can help get you streaming ASAP.
If you are on campus, then your streaming access should open up automatically (make sure you are not using a VPN).
Thank you for your interest in streaming
Isis, Tomorrow. The Lost Souls of Mosul
Please let us know a couple of key details, and we will be in touch to discuss your interest in streaming access.
Study Guide
Our study guides are available exclusively for licensed Film Platform users. Please get in contact for more information on our different licensing options.
Streaming Access
Unfortunately, this film is not available in your territory. Please provide us with your contact details so we can give you
more information on possible purchase options.
Streaming Access
Unfortunately, this film is not available for streaming yet.
As soon as it will be available for streaming, it will appear in your university streaming page.
Request From My library
More information
Thank you for your interest in Isis, Tomorrow. The Lost Souls of Mosul.
Please let us know a couple of key details, and we will be in touch with you ASAP.
Isis, Tomorrow follows the destiny of the surviving families of the fighters in the complexity of the post-war period, a post-war time of marginalisation and stigma, in which battle blood leaves room for daily revenge and retaliation, for violence as the only response to violence.
Some documentaries chronicle horrors so disturbing that viewers need to erect an invisible barrier between their emotions and the screen. That’s the case with “Isis, Tomorrow. The Lost Souls of Mosul,” a deeply disquieting plunge into the unending nightmare of children in the Iraqi city of Mosul, until recently under ISIS control and now liberated (a word best used advisedly). Amid an urban landscape straight out of “Mad Max,” Italian journalist-directors Francesca Mannocchi and Alessio Romenzi traverse the devastated city talking with kids whose trauma is so deep it’s impossible to even imagine there’s hope for a better future. The trick for the audience will be how to shield themselves from the film’s gut-punch while still remaining open to its shattering power.
Mannocchi and Romenzi begin the documentary six months after the city was taken back by Iraqi forces and their allies, following three years of ISIS rule. Images of apocalyptic destruction recall newsreels from the bombardments of the two world wars, yet the smug comfort of black-and-white historical distance doesn’t exist with Mosul, and an early scene of children scavenging amid the ruins can be compared only with dystopian fiction. Apart from such images, the documentary’s potency comes from the way the directors show the aftermath of inhuman indoctrination, together with the legacy of an abiding hatred that won’t die with the passing of just one generation. When men train kids to kill, when juveniles are prepped for suicide missions, how are those twisted instincts corrected, and how can the pain felt by survivors be ameliorated?
Children from both sides of the conflict are interviewed: There are those who witnessed family members savagely beaten and murdered by ISIS fighters, and others whose fathers inculcated them in jihadist rhetoric and sent them out to kill. Twelve-year-old Yousef Ayoub remembers a carefree time when he went to school and played with friends; now he’s haunted by memories of the people slaughtered before his eyes. Omar, just 13, was propagandized by his father and became an ISIS soldier; now he can’t leave his barren apartment because ISIS families are ostracized or attacked.
These are just two of the kids interviewed, all of whom have horror stories difficult to fully process. Adults speak about the fanaticism of child recruits, so easily turned into unreasoning machines, and ISIS videos show chilling images of training sessions in which young boys are taught to withstand pain. A mother named Habsha says the inescapable memories of things she’s seen make her long for death, but the need to stay alive for her elderly mother and surviving children forces her to go on. These aren’t generic figures incomprehensibly wailing but haunted survivors whose unnerving gaze digs into the viewer as they speak of their experiences.
The traumas are too deep to fade away with the fall of ISIS. On one side are the victims of jihadist fervor, their shattered lives rendering them either numb or vengeful, and on the other side are the former ISIS soldiers and their families, bullied by the community and denied access to aid. When a 12-year-old says he can never forgive, what chances are there to end the cycle of bitterness? The film offers no ray of false hope, no pathway out of despair. It stands as a record of the depths of inhumanity, and a searing testament to the international community’s failure to protect anyone from wars that don’t involve first-world nations.
Both directors are award-winning war journalists who have a feel for putting together information in hard-hitting ways — their job isn’t to suggest a solution, but to raise awareness and chronicle atrocity. Romenzi’s background as a war photographer is evident in the stark compositions that achieve a level of artistry while remaining subservient to the human costs. They don’t shy away from showing dead bodies in the city’s rubble, though undoubtedly they’ve spared viewers many sights that will trouble them to the end of their days.
We use cookies to collect and analyse information on site performance and usage, and to enhance and customize content. By Clicking "OK" or by clicking into any content on this site, you agree to allow cookies to be placed. To find out more or to change your cookie settings, visit the cookies section of our privacy policy.OkPrivacy policy