al-daradji again came into prominence upon release of his 2009 drama "son of babylon," which premiered at the middle east international film festival (now known as the abu dhabi film festival) and was the first feature film to be financially supported by the festival. it was developed through the sundance institute. the film made its world premiere at the film festival berlinale2010 (berlin international film festival), and earned him variety magazine's middle east filmmaker of the year award, berlin's amnesty award and peace prize, the netpac award at karlovy vary international film festival, and a special mention at edinburgh international film festival. the film was selected as the iraqi entry for the 2011 academy award for best foreign language film nominations, however it did not make the final shortlist. tim gray, editor of variety, said the following upon naming al-daradji the middle east filmmaker of the year: "we wanted to honour mohamed al daradji, not because he is a great middle eastern filmmaker, but because he is simply a great filmmaker."