Project Detail

Flight 149: Hostage of War

Synopsis

In August 1990 Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, triggering a war that would reshape the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East.
This documentary charts the extraordinary story of the passengers and crew on BA flight 149 who landed in the warzone on the morning of the invasion, becoming Saddam’s hostages in a rapidly escalating international crisis.
For decades the British government denied they knew the invasion had begun before the plane landed. Then in 2023, an MI6 officer broke his silence contradicting this official account. The hostages are now launching a legal case against the British Government and British Airways in their search for the truth about why the plane landed in the first place.
Official Selection SXSW Film & TV Festival 2025 - World premiere

Details

Year
2025
Type of film
Features
Running time
90 min
Director
Jenny Ash
Producer
Andy Holland, Helen McClure, Mowaffaq Safadi, Lucy Towers
Executive Producer
Sam Bagnall, Laura Botten, Mark Henderson, Karen Kelly, Poppy Dixon, Vesna Cudic, Tom Barry
Editor
Rick Barker
Director of Photography
Jamie Cairney
Production Designer
Sally Lock, Zineb Arraki

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Drum Studios

Laura Botten
https://drum-studios.drumglobal.com/

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Spacewoman Spacewoman

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all. At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

A manuscript with blue flowers Daria’s Night Flowers

Director: Maryam Tafakory

Year: 2025

Daria has written her first manuscript about falling in love with a mysterious girl called ‘abi’ [blue]. The night flowers in her garden hide the secrets of a country that has turned love stories into routine crime scenes. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025

Palestinian student delivering speech at Newcastle University encampment in May 2024 My Blood is Palestinian (Ana Dammi Falastini)

Director: Jay Scanlan-Oumow, Omar Ismail

Year: 2025

Delving into the life of a Palestinian in the UK, separated from a culture and a way of life, this film captures the power of the human spirit in the face of adversity, delivering a powerful statement about the intersection of personal struggle and political conflict and offering hope, challenging narratives, and inspiring solidarity. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025