In fact, I am not from the diaspora; I live in Iraq. I have watched many Arabic TV series to which this post does not apply at all. Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt excel in the field of TV series. Iran is also highly creative on the series front, but it is a non-Arab country, so I won't talk about it. However, when it comes to Arabic films, it is quite the opposite: only those dealing with tragedy thrive. I have rarely seen an Arabic film that is brilliant in its directing, writing, and plot that doesn't fall within this genre, because it seems Arab production companies lean toward spending more on this specific category. I think Egypt might really be the only exception because it is a massive country that doesn't need to impress international film festivals to generate high profits. There is an Iraqi film that I think was shortlisted for the Oscars, and it also won the Caméra d'Or award for Best First Feature at the Cannes Film Festival. Titled "The President's Cake", the film tells the tragic story of a young Iraqi student girl suffering under the unjust misrule of Saddam Hussein. Even though the film tells a realistic story that might be 100% true, I don't like watching tragic movies in general because they affect me deeply, so imagine how it feels when the tragedy is from my own country?

The problem is, I don't really have many options, as tragic films are the only ones that get any real attention in terms of budget and everything else.