It was made by a young Iraqi exile, Mohamed Al-Daradji, in extraordinary circumstances.

That is a story in itself which you can see at Sheffield Doc/Fest which is screening a documentary about it, War Love God Madness, and programmer Hussain Currimbhoy is excited about it.

"This Iraqi guy living in Leeds went out to make a fictional feature in Baghdad and all kinds of things happened to him, including being kidnapped twice, because nobody knew who he was. Was he spy, was he a terrorist?" he exclaims.

"When he got back he found he had all this extra footage and thought, I will make a documentary about it. So this 27-year-old refugee has managed to make two films in a war zone."

How Sheffield Doc/Fest secured it is a story in itself. "I had been trying to get to meet his producer, Isabelle Stead, for weeks and it just hadn't happened even though she was only in Leeds. Then we ran into each other at the Cannes Festival and said, right we need to talk right now. We went into one of the film tents by lying to security about who we were meeting. By the end she agreed that our festival was going to do more for their film than anywhere else. She's young and knows what she wants. She wasn't able to find a distributor for the film at first, so she said she would do it herself. She is just the kind of person we want at the festival."

Currimbhoy is in his first year as programmer at the festival which takes place in November but was part of the team last year.

He came over from Australia last August to assist the then programmer David Teigeler. "By then the programme had been pretty much settled so I was involved in the co-ordination of the programme, writing catalogue copy and liaising with film-makers. I did make a point of watching every film in advance, though, so I could talk about a film if needed, perhaps if someone didn't turn up to do a Q and A."

Teigeler left after the 2007 festival and Currimbhoy, who has made seven short films himself as well as working in festivals around the world, was chosen from 28 applicants to take over and began in his new post in January.

He has a very international background, having been born in Toronto of Indian parents before the family moved to Australia when he was in his teens. He went to film school in Perth and has lived in Japan and Holland.

That informs his choice of films. "I just want to get the best films possible, ones that take an angle on the world around us," he says. "Being Indian-Canadian-Australian-Muslim, I want that to be representational of the wider world.

"I want to push films which have something different to say. You can cover the same subject as someone else but if it's different it will be worth watching. It's simple stuff, when I go to the cinema that's what I am looking for.

"How it will play to an audience is a prime consideration. At screenings I am always looking over people's shoulders to see what they are texting."

The programme is again divided into different strands.

Music Doc celebrates the unique marriage of music in documentary that focus on musician biographies or focuses on bands, another is Sports Doc and then Bent Doc, focusing on gay and lesbian themes or by gay filmmakers. Green Docs is dedicated to films about the environment and a new category for this year, Regime Change, will mark the coming US elections. Finally there is Anti-doc for 'controversial' film.

Other concerns also determine choice. "There might be a certain issue that might be hot or a film-maker who is clearly destined to go places. If I talk to a director who shows a great passion that's good as well."

The details of the programme will be revealed in the autumn, so there will probably be less time to pursue his passion for cycling.

He is still watching a lot of films. "I am surrounded by DVDs, it's like living in a Blockbuster video store," he says.
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