| Middle
East Week
Tuesday,
February 17 – Sunday, February 22, 2004
This
year's celebration of Middle Eastern culture features a photography
exhibit by Hazami Sayed founder of Philadelphia
’s
Al-Bustan
day camp, performances by International House residents, traditional
Middle Eastern cuisine and a spotlight on the New Kurdish Cinema.
Middle
East Week is co-presented by International House and by the
Middle East Center
and the Solomon
Asch
Center
for Entho-political Conflict
at the University
of Pennsylvania.
February
17 - March 14
Al-Bustan
Camp Photo Exhibit
This
photography exhibit by Hazami Sayed, founder of Al-Bustan, a
children’s Arabic language and cultural day camp, will be on
display in our gallery. In this series of photos, Ms. Sayed,
an architect, photographer and resident of Philadelphia,
captures the playful, sometimes contemplative and inquiring
minds of youth.
Wednesday,
February 18 - Sunday, February 22
Scattered
Seeds of Hanareh: The New Kurdish Cinema
In
his award-winning second feature Marooned in Iraq, Bahman
Ghobadi follows the eventful journey of three Kurdish musicians
in search of the former matriarch of their family. The poignancy
of her name, Hanareh, the Kurdish word for pomegranate, and
the futility of the search did not elude those familiar with
the Kurdish history and culture. Hanareh serves as an apt metaphor
for a nation without a state, seeds without a hull to hold them
together.
The
dispossessed Kurds have also lacked their own voice. The current
scattered population of more than 35 million Kurds has lived
mostly under the political and cultural suppression of the governments
of Turkey,
Iran,
Iraq
and Syria,
whose assimilating policies have sought to systematically deny
them the right to promote their own language and cultivate cultural
cohesion.
The
Kurds, however, are breaking their silence. Over the past decade,
a host of young and highly promising Kurdish filmmakers in Iran
and Turkey, as well as displaced Kurdish artists in Europe and
the United States have started to redefine their identity and
paint Kurdish images in their own terms. Scattered Seeds
of Hanareh, curated by Jamsheed Akrami, a film professor
at William Paterson University, is a film series in appreciation
of the gradually rising voices of the emerging Kurdish filmmakers.
Wednesday,
February 18 at 8:00
PM
Marooned
in Iraq
dir.
Bahman Ghobadi, Iran, 2003, 35mm, 97 mins, color, Persian and
Kurdish w/ English subtitles
 An
aging Iranian musician and his two middle-aged sons search for
his ex-wife Hanareh, a singer stranded under the chemical bombings
of Saddam Hussein in 1990s Iraqi Kurdistan. Bahman Ghobadi’s
fast-paced road movie, establishes him as a passionate raconteur
of Kurdish yarns. While still exploring the unending plight
of the ordinary Kurds, he successfully injects a good dose of
humor to balance looming tragedies.
preceded
by
Scattered
Seeds of Hanareh: A Talk with Bahman Ghobadi
dir.
Jamsheed Akrami, USA, 2003, Beta SP, 20 mins, color, Persian
w/ English subtitles
Film
professor Jamsheed Akrami talks to Bahman Ghobadi about a range
of issues regarding the making of his second feature Marooned
in Iraq: his inspirations, Kurdish music, his approach
to nature, the curse of the borders, the future of the nascent
Kurdish cinema, and why he thinks the Bosnian Emir Kusturica
is really a Kurdish filmmaker! Excerpts from the film help illustrate
Ghobadi’s points.
Thursday,
February 19 at 8:00
PM
Fotograf
dir.
Kazim Oz, Turkey, 2001, Beta SP, 65 mins, color, Turkish w/
English subtitles
Two
young men share a bus trip without knowing they are traveling
to join the opposite sides of the same war. This feature debut
by Kazim Oz is a poignant essay on fragility of peace and friendship
in an ambience of tyranny and suppression.
preceded
by
Good
Kurds, Bad Kurds
dir.
Kevin McKiernan, USA,
2001, Beta SP, 80 mins, color
This
searing documentary chronicles some painful chapters of contemporary
Kurdish history and provides an excellent context for viewing
the fictional titles in the film series. Independent journalist
Kevin McKiernan follows the struggles of the Kurds defending
themselves against the governments bent on destroying them and
exposes the double standards of the American policies in dealing
with the Kurds. Cinematography by the great Haskell Wexler.
Middle
East Week Reception and Performance
Friday,
February 20 at 6:00
PM
Join
us for poetry, dance and song brought to you by I House Residents
and Alumni,
as
well as the University of Pennsylvania's Middle Eastern Belly
Dance Troupe and henna application.
followed
at 8:00 PM by
Hejar
dir.
Handan Ipekci,
Turkey,
2001, 35mm, 120 mins, color, Turkish and Kurdish w/ English
subtitles
A
retired Turkish judge finds himself a reluctant custodian of
a five-year-old orphan Kurdish girl abandoned after a brutal
police raid. An unlikely battle of wills between two complete
strangers ensues. This emotionally resonant melodrama is an
engaging indictment of mistreatment of the Kurds in Turkey,
the country with the largest Kurdish population in the world.
The Turkish government that until a few years ago was referring
to its Kurds as mountain Turks, chose Hejar to represent
Turkey in the best foreign-language category of Academy Awards,
and then banned it in Turkey!
Saturday,
February 21 at 8:00 PM
A
Time for Drunken Horses
dir.
Bahman Ghobadi,
Iran,
2000, 35mm, 77 mins, color, Persian and Kurdish w/ English subtitles
 In
a remote, mountainous area in the Iranian Kurdistan, Ayoub,
a hard-working adolescent, along with his three young sisters
and two brothers live a dispossessed life in the absence of
their parents. Ghobadi’s feature debut, which shared the coveted
Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2000, is a heartbreaking Dickensian
tale of an impoverished family struggling to survive a dark
destiny and a harsh environment.
Sunday,
February 22 at 7:00 PM
Jiyan
dir.
Jano Rosebiani, Iraq,
2002, 35mm, 94 mins, color, Kurdish w/ English subtitles
The
sentimental journey of a Kurdish American back to the Iraqi
Kurdistan, where he is planning to build an orphanage, proves
to be a life-affirming experience in the face of grief and despair.
Jiyan is a catatonic ten-year-old orphan girl whom the protagonist
attempts to bring back to life. Rosebiani’s first film is particularly
noteworthy for its account of the chemical bombing of the Kurdish
town of Halabja and its devastating consequences.
Free
admission for Reception and Performance. Film tickets
are $6.00 general admission, $5.00 I House members, students
and seniors. Available one hour in advance at the International
House box office.
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