Kurdish new wave cinema: Half Moon (2006)

By: börek - March 1st, 2016  Filed under: Filmavond

HalfMoonSunday March 20th 2016, Kurdish new wave cinema: Half Moon (2006). In Sorani Kurdish and Farsi with English subtitles. Door opens at 8pm, film begins at 9pm. Free admission.

Half Moon (Kurdish: Nîwe Mang/Nîvê Heyvê) is a 2006 film written and directed by Iranian Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi. Half Moon is a joint production of Iran, Austria, France and Iraq. This movie was commissioned by the New Crowned Hope festival, a celebration of the 250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the story plot has been inspired in part by Mozart’s Requiem.

Synopsis

Synopsis: Mamo, an old renowned Kurdish musician, has begun a journey to Iraq with his sons to perform a concert after the fall of Saddam Hossein. Kako, a middle-aged man and a huge fan of Mamo’s, enthusiastically escorts them in an orange mini bus which he has borrowed from a friend. Mamo gathers his sons one by one from different areas. The last son who joins the team insists on speaking to Mamo in private. He explains to Mamo that the Wise man of the village has predicted that Mamo should not go on the trip because, as the full moon nears, something awful will happen to him. Mamo persists on continuing his journey. He claims that he must continue his trip despite all the obstacles because he was not allowed to perform in Iraq for many years. Mamo intends to take Hesho, a female singer who lives with 1334 other women in exile, as part of his team. But the strength of Hesho’s voice has dwindled along with her self confidence. While crossing the borders, Mamo’s team faces many difficulties as their journey is wrought with adventure and disaster each step of the way. […Lees verder]

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Kurdish Iranian new wave cinema: The Songs of My Mothers Land – Marooned in Iraq (2002)

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

Marooned_in_IraqSunday February 15th 2015, Kurdish Iranian new wave cinema: The Songs of My Mothers Land – Marooned in Iraq. آوازهای سرزمین مادری‌ام‎ (گم‌گشتگی در عراق) by Bahman Ghobadi, 2002, 108 minutes. In Kurdish and Persian with English subtitles. Door opens at 8pm, film begins at 9pm. Free admission.

Synopsis: In Iran and Iraq’s postwar years, when Iraq bombs its Kurdistan, an old Iranian Kurd singer, accompanied by his musician sons, start searching for his ex-wife Hanareh. Hanareh, a women singer, has gone to Kurdistan in Iraq. The film is the story of the band’s journey, joined with their music. It is the story of a nation that has always been wandering. Being so used to war, they take it as a game and with their music they celebrate life.

Many years ago before our memories were clouded by the moments of heroic bravery at the hangman’s alter which will, for many Arabs, go on to posthumously defining Saddam Hussein, there were innumerable mass graves, gassed victims, orphaned children and menacing jet fighters roaring in the Kurd skies that reminded people of what Saddam stood for.

Bahman Ghobadi’s “Songs of my motherland” (also known as ‘Marooned in Iraq’) is not just a tale of Mirza the legendary Kurd singer but an epic of his people. As Mirza sets out to seek his rebellious ex-wife, Henareh, a belle who has captured the hearts of the people through her voice and her songs, we are introduced to the nuances and shades of the people of the region. […Lees verder]

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Movie Night – A Time for Drunken Horses (2000)

By: ready - August 16th, 2014  Filed under: Events, Filmavond

Sunday August 17th 2014. A Time for Drunken Horses by Bahman Ghobadi, 2000, 85 minutes. Door opens at 8pm, film begins at 9pm.

Kurdish Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi grew up during the devastating Iran-Iraq War, which killed several of his relatives. After starting out in photography, he began attracting attention in his twenties from his short documentary films about Kurdish life. After serving as Abbas Kiarostami’s assistant director on The Wind Will Carry Us (Bād Mā-ra- Khāhad Bord, 1997), he expanded the theme of one of his short documentary films, Life in Fog, to make his first feature film, A Time for Drunken Horses (Zamani Barayé Masti Asbha, 2000). The film, about the harsh circumstances of an impoverished Kurdish family near the Iran-Iraq border where the local economy subsists around the dangerous smuggling trade, was an immediate sensation and multi-award winner, including the FIPRESCI critics prize and the Camera D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
[…Lees verder]

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Movie Night: Half Moon

By: börek - March 1st, 2014  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday March 2nd 2014, Movie Night: Half Moon by Bahman Ghobadi (2006, 114′). With ENglish subtitles. Door opens at 8pm, film begins at 9pm.

Mamo, an old renowned Kurdish musician, has begun a journey to Iraq with his sons to perform a concert after the fall of Saddam Hossein. Kako, a middle-aged man and a huge fan of Mamo’s, enthusiastically escorts them in an orange mini bus which he has borrowed from a friend. Mamo gathers his sons one by one from different areas. The last son who joins the team insists on speaking to Mamo in private. He explains to Mamo that the Wise man of the village has predicted that Mamo should not go on the trip because, as the full moon nears, something awful will happen to him. Mamo persists on continuing his journey. He claims that he must continue his trip despite all the obstacles because he was not allowed to perform in Iraq for many years. Mamo intends to take Hesho, a female singer who lives with 1334 other women in exile, as part of his team. But the strength of Hesho’s voice has dwindled along with her self confidence. While crossing the borders, Mamo’s team faces many difficulties as their journey is wrought with adventure and disaster each step of the way. […Lees verder]

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Movie night: No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009)

By: börek - June 1st, 2013  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday June 16th 2013, Movie night: No One Knows About Persian Cats (Bahman Ghobadi, Iran, 2009, 106 min.) Persian with English subtitles. Door opens at 8pm, film begins at 9pm.

NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS is the fifth feature by awardwinning director Bahman Ghobadi, winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the Cannes film festival. Co—written by imprisoned Iranian—American journalist Roxana Saberi, the film is an indictment of cultural repression in Iran’s exciting underground music scene, a powerful cinematic foreshadowing of current protest movements, and a celebration of an entire generation of Iranians striving towards personal and creative freedom. Shot in secret and featuring extraordinary performances by real underground bands, follows a pair of young musicians, recently released from prison, on a mission to take their rock band to Europe. Forbidden by the authorities to play in Iran, they plan their escape abroad with a fast—talking music promoter. Vowing to play one last show before leaving Tehran, their dangerous mission takes them on a free—wheeling journey through the City’s vibrant and diverse underground scene, home to an estimated 2,000 illegal independent bands. […Lees verder]

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Kurdish Iranian movie night, Bahman Ghobadi

By: börek - February 1st, 2013  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday February 17th 2013, Movie night: Turtles Can Fly (Bahman Ghobadi, Kurdistan, Iran, 2004, 95 min). English subtitles. Door open at 20pm, film begins at 21:00.

A social drama concerning the life of children in Kurdistan of Iraq near the Iraqi-Turkish border before the US invasion of Iraq. Born in 1969 in Baneh, in the province of Iranian Kurdistan, Bahman Ghobadi is an internationally acclaimed Iranian Kurd director who has been living in exile for several years. A socially inclined and politically outspoken artist, Ghobadi first came to the movie world’s attention in 2000, when his “Time for Drunken Horses” won the prize for best first feature at the Cannes Film Festival. Drunken Horses was the first Kurd film in the history of Iran and also the first feature-length film in Kurdish, a tongue banned in Iranian schools since the 1940s, to achieve an international release. […Lees verder]

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