FLOWERS OF THE QURAN 2010

January 14th - February 18th

Dom na Kinoto Euro Cinema The Red House

Ara /2008/, Turkey, 89 min.

Directed by Umit Unal

With Erdem Akakce, Serhat Tutumluer, Betül Çobanoglu, Selen Uçer

Ara is the story of four people and an empty house. These people are stuck between their past and stormy relationships, between Istanbul and the "homes" they can't get back, between their innermost secrets and the lies they tell, between east and west.

IFF Istanbul – Best Actor award / Serhat Tutumluer/, Prize of the Jury

Turkish language, Bulgarian subtitles

Offside /2006/, Iran, 93 min.

Directed by Jafar Panahi

With Sima Mobarak-Shahi, Shayesteh Irani, Ayda Sadeqi

"Offside" is about a group of Iranian girls who attempts to enter Tehran's Azadi Stadium dressed as boys in order to watch a big football match but some get caught and arrested. After the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran, women are not allowed to enter the stadiums.

IFF Berlin - Silver Berlin Bear /Jafar Panahi/, Nominated for Golden Berlin Bear; IFF Gijon - Best Actress /between the female actresses/, Special Prize of the Young Jury; IFF Ljubljana - Amnesty International Film Award; IFF Toronto – Official Selection; IFF Roterdam – Official selection; IFF Helsinki – Official selection; IFF New York – Official selection

Persian language, Bulgarian subtitles

It’s Winter /2006/, Iran, 86 min.

Directed by Raffi Pitts

With Mitra Hajjar, Ali Nicksaulat, Said Orkani, Hashem Abdi

A man is fired from his job. Having no more options, he decides to go find work abroad, leaving behind his wife and daughter. Months pass and his family hear no word from him. A stranger, a mechanic, arrives in town in search of work. His eyes wander to the beautiful young woman whom he hears no longer has a husband.

IFF Valladolid – Silver Spike /Raffi Pitts/, Best Director of Photography, Golden Spike nominated; IFF Palm Springs - New Visions Grand Jury Prize; IFF Damascus - Golden Award for Best Film; IFF Berlin – Golden Berlin Bear nominated

Persian language, Bulgarian subtitles

Elephants and Grass /2001/, Turkey, 115 min.

Directed by Dervis Zaim

With Ali Sürmeli, Sanem Çelik, Bülent Kayabas, Haluk Bilginer

A marathon runner becomes unwittingly involved in the dirty deeds of businessmen, politicians, assassins, and underground groups when she tries to raise money for her wounded brother's operation.

IFF Antalya Golden Orange – Best Director, Best Actress /Sanem Çelik/, Best Art Direction, Best Editing; IFF Istanbul - Best Actress /Sanem Çelik/, FIPRESCI prize; IFF Bratislava – Grand Prix nominated

Turkish language, Bulgarian subtitles

 

The Willow Tree /2005/ Iran, 96 min.

Directed by Majid Majidi

With Parviz Parastui, Roya Taymourian, Afarin Obeisi

Youssef, a blind university professor, is suddenly diagnosed with a fatal disease and must undergo treatment in France. Back home, will he find the life he had before?

Rumi – Turning Ecstatic /2005/, Canada, 60 min.

Directed by Tina Petrova, Stephen Roloff

Mevlana Jelalludin Rumi was a 13th C. Mystic and Poet. He was born into the Persian Empire in what is today Balkh Afghanistan and lived out his life in Konya Turkey. His two signature literary works "The Mathnawi" and the "Divani Shams i Tabriz" are considered second only in importance to the Koran in the Middle East.

English language, Bulgarian subtitles

 

Killing Mad Dogs /2001/, Iran, 135 min.

Directed by Bahram Beizai

With Mozhdeh Shamsai, Majid Mozaffari, Reza Kianian

 

Author Golrokh Kamali returns to Tehran and her husband after spending a year in the provinces. Still angry about her husband's infidelities, Golrokh must come to his defense when a group of unscrupulous businessmen threaten to imprison him for debt.

Mommo /2009/, Turkey, 94 min.

Directed by Atalay Tasdiken

With Elif Bülbül, Mehmet Bülbül, Mete Dönmezer

A brother and sister are split up after their mother dies, their father remarries, and their new stepmother rejects them. Sad,simple but sweet story from Konya.

Turkish language, Bulgarian subtitles

As Simple As That /2008/, Iran, 93 min.

Directed by   Seyyed Reza Mir Karimi

With Safa Aghajani, Parvaneh Ahmadi, Ahmad Akeshteh

A nuanced portrait of a religious housewife in distress, "As Simple as That" marks a milestone in current Iranian cinema as a rare realist depiction of a woman from the middle class.

Persian language, Bulgarian subtitles

Bleeding heart /2009/, Iran,

Directed by Mohammad Reza Rahmani

Emad has killed his wife and is awaiting the verdict. Emad’s sister-in-law suffers from a heart ailment and Emad decides to bequeath his heart to her after his death. A young woman public prosecutor is given the case. Despite her husband’s opposition, she does a good job of handling the dead wife’s family sensitively.

Persian language, Bulgarian subtitles

My Marlon and Brando /2008/, Turkey, 93 min.

Directed by Huseyin Karabey

With: Ayca Damgaci, Hama Ali Khan, Mahir Gunsiray, Volga Sorgu Tekinoglu

The true-life border-crossing romance between a Turkish actress and her Kurdish lover gets a semi-fictional work-up when the real thesp takes on her own role in docu helmer Huseyin Karabey's fiction-feature debut, "My Marlon and Brando."

Turkish language, Bulgarian subtitles

Samia /2001/ France-Algeria, 73 min.

Directed by Phillippe Faucon

With Lynda Benahouda, Mohamed Chabane-Chaouche, Kheira Oualhaci

"Samia" is a moving drama about Algerian girls in France, growing up modern on the outside and miserable on the inside in a strict Muslim household where they're little more than servants.

French and Arabic language, Bulgarian subtitles

Games of Love and Chance /2003/ - France, 117 min.

Directed by Adbel Kechiche

With Osman Elkharraz, Sara Forestier, Sabrina Ouazani, Nanou Benhamou

The 15-year old Abdelkrim, known as Krimo, falls for his classmate, but is faced with a dilemma - just how is he going to declare his love to Lydia (Sara Forestier) without losing face? There’s only one solution - to bribe his friend Rachid (Rachid Hami), Lydia's stage partner, and take his place in the role of Arlequin. But this smart idea becomes a major battle for Krimo, who’s horrified by the amount of text he must learn by heart, as well as by his French teacher’s implacable demands.

Waiting for Happiness /2002/ - Mauritania-France, 91 min.

Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako

With  Khatra Ould Abder Kader, Maata Ould Mohamed Abeid, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed

Abdallah (Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed) a 17-year-old who has been away for many years, returns to visit his mother before he heads off to Europe to seek his fortune. Unable to remember the local dialect, he can't communicate with the townspeople or even with his mother, so mainly he lies in bed and reads or wanders around with a shell-shocked look on his face.

Madame Brouette /2002/ Senegal, 103 min.

Directed by Moussa Sene Absa

With Ousseynou Diop, Rokhaya Niang, Aboubacar Sadikh Ba, Kadiatou Sy

Mati and her daughter Ndèye survive in the city of Dakar by selling produce from a cart. She has long sworn off men after divorcing her abusive husband, and inspires her friend Ndaxté to do the same. But her resolve is tested when she meets handsome and charming policeman Naago. As she and Naago continue their relationship, she discovers her rosy picture of him slowly shattered by his womanizing and corruption.

French language, Bulgarian subtitles

Invent Me a Country – France, 2005, 60 min.

Director: Catalina Villar

"Invente-moi un Pays" tells the story of a dozen 8- to 13-year-olds - children of asylum seekers - from Algeria, Chechnya, Congo, Georgia, Madagascar, Syria and Turkey. It takes place in a town near Paris called Melun, where families are housed and children go to school, a protected sphere where different cultures sit at the same table and their past lives - their fears and humiliations - are acted out in a film the children invent and act in.

French language, Bulgarian subtitles

J’ai Tant Aime – Morocco, 2008, 51 min.

Director: Dalila Ennadre

"I wanted to live like modern women who live love," says Fadma, now an elderly Berber lady, once employed by the French colonial army as a companion for soldiers during the Indo-China wars. Far from nostalgic or regretful, she makes for a open and utterly compelling central character in Dalila Ennadre's frank and intimate portrait of these Moroccan "comfort women" and their lives after the war. In the process, the film opens up a fascinating picture of a great sweep of Moroccan history.

Arabic language, Bulgarian subtitles

Ali Zoua: Prince of the Streets  - Morocco-Tunisia-France

Director: Nabil Ayouch

With Mounim Kbab, Mustapha Hansali, Hicham Moussoune, Abdelhak Zhayra

Ali, Kwita, Omar and Boubker are street kids. The daily dose of glue sniffing represents their only escape from reality. Since they left Dib and his gang, they have been living on the portside of Casablanca. They live in constant fear of Dib's revenge.

Awards and nominations: IFF Montreal - Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Grand Prix nominated; IFF Stokholm - Bronze Horse award; IFF Amiens - Audience Award; IFF Cologne - Grand Prize; IFF Kerala - FIPRESCI Prize, Golden Crow Pheasant

Arabic language, Bulgarian subtitles