Category Archives: Film Features

Introducing Zohreh Shayesteh’s (Iran) documentary film “Picking Apples, Drinking Tea”.

 

About this documentary film

Abyaneh is a historical and ancient village in Iran where time has stood still and its people are as old as the place itself.
Two years ago, filmmaker Zohreh Shayesteh visited the village and took pictures of its women. She returned in 2006 with a video camera. While searching for the women in the photos she met Keshvar, a blunt and feisty woman who became the physical and spiritual guide for the filmmaker in this journey of self-discovery. Thanks to Keshvar and the unexpected friendship that developed between these two women, what was to be a simple video documentary about a village and its people becomes a spiritual journey to a place the filmmaker once called home.

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Film: Shirin Neshat’s “WOMEN WITHOUT MEN” New York CIty premiere!!

Title: WOMEN WITHOUT MEN (Zanān bedun-e mardān in farsi – 2009, Germany, Austria and France )
Director: Shirin Neshat (Iran)
Collaborator: Shoja Azari
Screenplay by: Shirin Neshat & Shoja Azari
Starring: Pegah Ferydoni, Arita Shahrzad, Shabnam Tolouei, Orsi Tóth and Shahrnush Parsipur
Soundtrack by: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Camera work by: Martin Gschlacht
Language: Farsi (Persian)
Produced by: IndiePix Films
Awards: Toronto (Special Presentations), Venice (Silver Lion for Best Director at Venezia 66), London (Cinema Europa), Sundance (Spotlight)
Runtime: 99 minutes
Format: 35 mm
Rating: Not Rated
Website: http://www.womenwithoutmenfilm.com

Date: Friday, May 14, through Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Movie theatre: The Quad Cinema (34 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011  | map | more info)

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Upcoming Bollywood movie and soundtrack: My Name is Khan, an epic romantic drama with universal appeal!

About the movie

This is the trailer of the  upcoming Bollywood film My Name Is Khan based on a true story of one man’s (played by one of Newsweek’s 50 most powerful people in the world, Shahrukh Khan) journey across America post 9/11. Directed by Karan Johar and starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol.

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Trailer of “The Poot” – a 2009 documentary about Persian handmade carpet by Elham Asadi.

The Poot posterSelected and screened at Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festivals (IDFA).

Interview with Elham Asadi @ Radio Zamaneh, Amsterdam (in Persian).

IDFA writers: “Carpet weaving is one of the oldest trades in the Persian world, but just as with so many traditions, the craft is under fire these days. Many of the carpets that end up on the European market are mechanically manufactured in China or India, and the handicraft is becoming less attractive because people can earn more money in other occupations.

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The Hand of Fatima – a feature length documentary by Augusta Palmer

Hand Of Fatima DVD cover

Hand Of Fatima DVD cover

The Hand of Fatima is a feature-length documentary structured by two parallel journeys to the remote Moroccan village of Jajouka, where a hereditary band plays music older than history.  

The first journey begins in the 1960s, when critic Robert Palmer uncovers “cryptic allusions” to Jajouka in the novels of William Burroughs. On assignment for Rolling Stone in 1971, Palmer finds the place where the musicians spend their days smoking kif, playing music, and “driving possessed tribesmen into mass Dionysian frenzies.”  

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