Iranian Movie night: The Day I Became a Woman (2000)

By: börek - July 1st, 2015  Filed under: Filmavond

TheDayIBecameAWomanSunday July 19th 2015, Iranian Movie night: The Day I Became a Woman (Persian: Roozi ke zan shodam, روزی که زن شدم‎) by Marzieh Meshkini (2000, 78 minutes). In Persian with English subtitles. Door opens at 8pm, film begins at 9pm. Free admission.

It is comprised of three interconnected vignettes that depict women at three stages of life in Iran. It premièred at the 2000 Venice Film Festival and won several festival awards during 2000. This film is episodic and it consists of 3 stories about the women’s situation in Iran.

First story: Hava
One morning a small girl named Hava wakes up and notices that she has become a woman because she is now 9 years old and playing in the streets with the boys is considered a sin from that day on. Hava cries and asks her grandmother to go to the street for one last goodbye with the boys.

Second story: Ahoo
This episode is about a young lady whom participates in the women’s bicycle race with her black traditional chador (veil) and her husband, while riding a horse, threatens to divorce her if she doesn’t get off the bicycle.

Third story: Houra
This episode is about an old woman whom has inherited some money during the last years of her life after years of poverty and now she has decided to spend all the money before she dies and to buy all the stuff that she always wished to buy during her life.

The film was co-written by director Marzieh Meshkini, from a script by her husband Mohsen Makhmalbaf. It was shot on Kish Island in the Hormozgān Province in southern Iran. Meshkini has said that as a female filmmaker, she found making a film in Iran particularly difficult, having to prove her abilities to the cast and crew before being accepted by them.

More info about the director: http://www.makhmalbaf.com/?q=marziyeh
More about the film: http://www.makhmalbaf.com/?q=film/the-day-I-Became-A-Woman

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Doors open at 8pm, film begins at 9pm, free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net

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Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Dom zły (Wojciech Smarzowski, 2009)

By: börek - July 1st, 2015  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday July 12th 2015, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Dom zły (The Dark House, directed by Wojciech Smarzowski, 2009, 106 minutes). In Polish with English subtitles. Free admission. Door opens at 20:00, Film starts at 21:00.

This is one of the most renowned and popular films from contemporary Poland, and its director is recognized as one of the country’s leading independent artists. The story of this devastating little drama follows an investigation into the murder of a family on a farm in 1978, but the real meaning of the film lies elsewhere in the background. As the police investigation unfolds, the movie becomes an exposé… a dark journey into communist Poland’s past. As the lead character Lieutenant Mróz tries to deduce who the murderer is, he soon discovers that the authorities have absolutely no interest in solving the crime. He’s looking for the truth, and he is told “there is no such thing.”

This is an inventive, but harsh and confronting film that explores the depths of the human soul. Its been described as “An atmospheric Polish horror film set in the communist era.” Like I said, in Poland this riveting and moody gem was a hit… but everywhere else it wasn’t even given a chance outside festivals. […Lees verder]

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Movie Night: 99 Franc (2007)

By: börek - June 1st, 2015  Filed under: Filmavond

ng_120229_99francs_01Sunday June 21st 2015, Movie Night: 99 Franc (Jan Kounen, France, 2007, 100 min.). In French with English subtitles. Door opens at 8pm, film begin at 9pm. Free admission.

The film is a satire on the modern advertizement business. The plot mainly concerns the story of a commercial advertisement designer, Octave Parango (Jean Dajardin), who has an easy-going, highly paid job, and an active free life mainly consisting of drugs and random one-time sexual relationships. However, he starts growing weary of his job, and after having his first ever long-time relationship with fellow worker Sophie (Vahina Giocante) fail miserably, he organises a revolt against the advertisement business and his own life. […Lees verder]

Kurdish Movie Night: Blackboards (“Takhté siah”)

By: börek - June 1st, 2015  Filed under: Filmavond

MV5BMTUwOTM0NzgyNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjU1OTQyMQ@@._V1_SY317_CR4,0,214,317_AL_Sunday June 14th 2015, Kurdish Movie Night: Blackboards ( تخته سیاه‎, by Samira Makhmalbaf, Iran, 2000, 88 min.). In Kurdish with English subtitles. Door opens at 8pm, film begin at 9pm. Free admission.

After the chemical bombing of Halabcheh in Iraq a number of Kurd refugee teachers seek for pupils who are willing to educate around the border as they carry their blackboards like Jesus’ crosses. One of them encounters a group of teenage smugglers and tries to convince them to educate as they carry their heavy backpacks full of smuggled stuff. The other teacher encounters a group of old and tired men, whom after years of migration are going to their own country to die there. But it seems that hunger and insecurity has not left any chance for the education of the generations.

The film focuses on a group of Kurdish refugees after the chemical bombing of Halabja by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War. The screenplay was co-written by Makhmalbaf with her father, Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The dialogue is entirely in Kurdish and Makhmalbaf describes it as “something between reality and fiction. Smuggling, being homeless, and people’s efforts to survive are all part of reality… the film, as a whole, is a metaphor.” […Lees verder]

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Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Kamikaze 1989 (Wolf Gremm, 1982)

By: börek - June 1st, 2015  Filed under: Filmavond

kamikaze_1989Sunday June 7th 2015, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Kamikaze 1989 (Wolf Gremm, 1982). In German with English subtitles. Free admission. Door opens at 20:00, Film starts at 21:00.

Set in the not-so-distant future, this film depicts a brave new world where illness has been eliminated, culture has been dumbed-down, there is no unemployment and a single conglomerate controls all the mass-media. Rainer Werner Fassbinder (in his final acting role) stars as the off-beat police lieutenant Jansen who is assigned to investigate a string of murders, but the deeper he digs the more complex and twisted the situation becomes. This is not the sort of film that leads you by the hand into a dystopian future, but a movie which dumps you in total alienation and a convoluted cultural anarchy- it’s Eurotrash, camp, arthouse and over the top.
Based on the 1964 novel Murder on the Thirty-First Floor by Per Wahlöö, this “West German cyberpunk thriller” features Fassbinder who was on his last legs when he starred in this crazed film. He is wildly dressed in a gaudy leopard-print suit, chain-smoking, sweating, and as one person said he is “lumbering around like a wounded walrus”. But that also adds a lot of flavor to the chaos. The decor and costumes are stuffed full of sci-fi kitsch, and that also adds to its nostalgic charm. The color scheme is gaudy, and the cinematography is by Xaver Schwarzenberger who shot Berlin Alexanderplatz along with most of Fasbinder’s last films. Besides Fassbinder the film also features Günther Kaufmann and Franco Nero. An extremely rare cult film from the Germany punk scene of the 80s with a vision of the future as an insane, senseless, labyrinthine junk world.
[…Lees verder]

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Movie Night: Kontroll (2003)

By: börek - May 2nd, 2015  Filed under: Filmavond

Kontroll_posterSunday May 31st 2015, Movie Night: Kontroll (Nimród Antal, 2003, 105 min.). In Hungarian with English subtitles. Door opens at 8pm, film and presentation begin at 9pm. Free admission.

Kontroll (2003) The film is a darkly comic thriller set in the Budapest metro system. “Kontroll” in Hungarian refers to the act of ticket inspectors, checking to ensure a rider has paid their fare. The story revolves around the ticket inspectors, riders, and a possible killer.

Bulcsú is a ticket inspector on the Hungarian metro, he spends his nights sleeping on the train platforms, and hasn’t left the underground ever since he started working there. His ragtag team of inspectors – consisting of the veteran Professzor, the disheveled Lecsó, neurotic narcoleptic Muki and dimwitted greenhorn Tibi – is routinely disrespected and assaulted by the commuters, who continue to evade paying fines in a variety of ways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kontroll […Lees verder]

Benefit for We Are Here with documentary screening

By: börek - May 2nd, 2015  Filed under: Benefiet, Filmavond, Infoavond, Volkseten/Voku

Wij_Zijn_hierMonday May 25th 2015, Benefit for We Are Here with the screening of Wij Zijn Hier, a documentary by Alexandra Jansse (Xela Films, 2015, 65’, in English with Dutch subtitles). Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm.

A new documentary narrating the story of one of the most vibrant movements in the Netherlands.
Wij Zijn Hier, a self-organised refugee group in Amsterdam. Screening will take place after the people’s kitchen, with the presence of director Alexandra Jansse and an activist of We Are Here.
Trailer of the film: https://vimeo.com/124522574

De worsteling van 220 vluchtelingen die maar één wens hebben: een menswaardig bestaan opbouwen in een land waar vrede heerst.

Het is September 2013 als het lopen door de binnenstad van Amsterdam begint voor 220 vluchtelingen die zich in het zogenaamde ‘asielgat’ bevinden in Nederland. Zij protesteren tegen het feit dat hun asielverzoeken werden afgewezen. In een aantal gevallen zijn ze naar de rechter gegaan en hebben hun beroep verloren. In andere gevallen loopt er nog een beroepsprocedure. Voor vrijwel allemaal is er een onaantastbaar besluit van de Nederlandse overheid, dat inhoudt dat ze geen asiel krijgen en dus Nederland moeten verlaten.

Omdat het de overheid in de praktijk echter niet lukt om ze uit te zetten worden ze op straat gezet. Al jaren worden deze mensen achtervolgt door een voortdurend knagende onzekerheid over hun recht op bestaan. Het beklemmende gevoel als ratten in de val te zitten is een vorm van zekerheid geworden die zich kenmerkt door een stuitend bestaan. Kans op terugkeer naar hun vaak zo geliefde familie is voor hen geen optie omdat daar marteling, gevangenisstraf of soms zelfs de dood wacht.

Alexandra, gedreven om een inkijk te geven in de schrijnende situatie waarin deze mensen zich bevinden, wil met deze film de denkbeeldige muren slechten en hun persoonlijke situatie in alle openheid belichten. De politiek lijkt onvermurwbaar. In ‘WIJ ZIJN HIER!’ schetst Jansse de worsteling en rauwe werkelijkheid van deze groep asielzoekers die maar een wens heeft namelijk: een menswaardig bestaan op te bouwen in een land waar vrede heerst. […Lees verder]

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Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)

By: börek - May 1st, 2015  Filed under: Filmavond

How_to_Get_Ahead_in_AdvertisingSunday May 10th 2015, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989). Directed by Bruce Robinson, 95 minutes. In English with English subtitles. Free admission. Door opens at 20:00, Film starts at 21:00.

Radical cult film by the wild British director Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I)…. a Kafkaesque black comedy which is a scathing attack on the commercialization and trivialization of our lives. This movie is an all-out assault on both the mind and senses (along with the advertising world), as it follows the story of pent-up advertising executive Dennis Bagley, whose life becomes so stressful that his body starts to react in a surreal way. This aspect makes it almost like a Cronenberg film, with Bagley’s repressed inner demon bursting to the surface. Director Bruce Robinson is a sort of cinematic equivalent to a rampaging Hunter S. Thompson, and in his gonzo rage he decries a world of cheap tricks, gimmicks, misrepresentation and hidden marketing agendas. And like Hunter, Robinson does so with scathing absurdism and humor.

Richard E. Grant (Withnail & I) stars in this mad, out-of-control Grand-Guignol that lampoons rampant capitalism and the modern business world. And although this film is certainly skeptical of that advertising industry, director Robinson said it was a mistake to think that was the main message… what this film is about for him is about selling fear, and using fear to promote everything. “The real fear I have is that our whole political system is evolving into an optical illusion whose currency is fear.” The expansion of both the commercialization of our lives, and the use of fear tactics to manipulate us, makes this film even more relevant than ever before. […Lees verder]

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