![Gabriel hopes the movie will be in with a chance of an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/YJQ42WCCOUCUSJM7CXBMJ3G6LQ.png?smart=true&auth=24cd61a4b7b9110b2c0c823aae62e4ac7b28ff971d0420bf05019ac8dbe1c2fb&width=400&height=225)
![Dan Gabriel’s film 'Mosul' is about the 2016 battle to reclaim the Iraqi city from the clutches of ISIS. All images courtesy Dan Gabriel](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/RMCU7L3FLAEBHAI42LJBOJG54A.png?smart=true&auth=acb0dcb0463ecb3ee32b12cdd0c1c5c3df64dd430f08a94930ae00d546243958&width=400&height=225)
![Ali Mula, is an Iraqi journalist and the protagonist of Gabriel’s film.](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/RTUCPI4CTFP5TZNTBB6JCYWVA4.png?smart=true&auth=b40d6f6ac4919d09b07e20bb2b57a73fb0cf9623876873ac328a342afcaf8e07&width=400&height=225)
![An army of more than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers and militiamen was mobilised to liberate the city of 1.3 million people.](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/7VC673CT3FIJSEX4LDFZUYZPLQ.png?smart=true&auth=445b346b03efe1f8186149d9b5af106c7ba8bf0fc5c3e47ac4f54d277500a678&width=400&height=225)
!['As you can imagine, the CIA is a place full of stories – of course, you can’t really tell any of them while you’re there and even to some extent after you’ve left – but Mosul was a personal and emotional story to me as it is to many veterans that served in that part of the world,' Gabriel says of his motivation for making the documentary.](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/MRSJ5SXB4CN6IUQS6QXNLTFS6E.png?smart=true&auth=75ce54f95a786158b7d0d4bb9d856eed4b6d99f9c1017a82ca696608f700257a&width=400&height=225)
![Gabriel hopes the movie will be in with a chance of an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/YJQ42WCCOUCUSJM7CXBMJ3G6LQ.png?smart=true&auth=24cd61a4b7b9110b2c0c823aae62e4ac7b28ff971d0420bf05019ac8dbe1c2fb&width=400&height=225)
![Dan Gabriel’s film 'Mosul' is about the 2016 battle to reclaim the Iraqi city from the clutches of ISIS. All images courtesy Dan Gabriel](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/RMCU7L3FLAEBHAI42LJBOJG54A.png?smart=true&auth=acb0dcb0463ecb3ee32b12cdd0c1c5c3df64dd430f08a94930ae00d546243958&width=400&height=225)
![Ali Mula, is an Iraqi journalist and the protagonist of Gabriel’s film.](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/RTUCPI4CTFP5TZNTBB6JCYWVA4.png?smart=true&auth=b40d6f6ac4919d09b07e20bb2b57a73fb0cf9623876873ac328a342afcaf8e07&width=400&height=225)
![An army of more than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers and militiamen was mobilised to liberate the city of 1.3 million people.](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/7VC673CT3FIJSEX4LDFZUYZPLQ.png?smart=true&auth=445b346b03efe1f8186149d9b5af106c7ba8bf0fc5c3e47ac4f54d277500a678&width=400&height=225)
!['As you can imagine, the CIA is a place full of stories – of course, you can’t really tell any of them while you’re there and even to some extent after you’ve left – but Mosul was a personal and emotional story to me as it is to many veterans that served in that part of the world,' Gabriel says of his motivation for making the documentary.](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/MRSJ5SXB4CN6IUQS6QXNLTFS6E.png?smart=true&auth=75ce54f95a786158b7d0d4bb9d856eed4b6d99f9c1017a82ca696608f700257a&width=400&height=225)
![Gabriel hopes the movie will be in with a chance of an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/YJQ42WCCOUCUSJM7CXBMJ3G6LQ.png?smart=true&auth=24cd61a4b7b9110b2c0c823aae62e4ac7b28ff971d0420bf05019ac8dbe1c2fb&width=400&height=225)
Dan Gabriel: The CIA officer who turned to film to document the battle for Mosul
The director explains why he thinks the Iraqi city is a metaphor for the modern Middle East
Jack Dutton
September 02, 2019
- Listen In English
- Listen In Arabic
September 02, 2019