| September 2009 |
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Press Release: The First New York Kurdish Film Festival - A Cinema Across Borders
New York, NY— The First New York Kurdish Film Festival: A Cinema Across Borders is the first-ever film festival of Kurdish cinema in the United States. Bringing together an exciting range of films and documentaries from across the Kurdish region and the Kurdish diaspora, the festival will feature ten short films, a documentary and eight feature films, including the US premiere of The Storm by Kazım Öz (Ax, Fotograf). In addition, the festival will include a Filmmakers’ Panel with six prominent Kurdish filmmakers from Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and the diaspora to connect directly with New York audiences, and post-film Q&As with the filmmakers, providing potential new routes for understanding and dialogue. Situated in the heart of the Middle East, Kurdish cinema intersects with many of the great political conflicts of our age. These diverse films provide powerful and unexpected insights into our common world through stunning cinematography, rich narratives, and ... More
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| June 2006 |
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AUTONOMOUS SPACES: Though funded by the state, filmmakers in Syria continue to find ways to make their often critical voices heard.
By Cécile Boëx, Film Comment
Neglected-ignored even-Syrian cinema merits special attention for its originality, quality, and boldness. That said, compared to the high volume of film production in Egypt, the film industry's output is minuscule: since 1928, when the first Syrian film was made, the country has produced only about 150 features. More
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| May 2006 |
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Banned in the Middle East: What does it take to get censored in Syria, anyway?
By Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
Because Syria does not have an authentic film industry of its own, the native movies collected for this inspired Walter Reade retro are (a) mostly crude third-world hardscrabble, or (b) often sourced out of the politics and/or funding of neighboring nations, or (c) both. Of course, the shadow of the Baathist regime, in place for 36 years and counting, looms—-but not in a dependably ideological way. However secular, the government's Byzantine, and often simply whimsical, web of censorship committees, gantlets, principles, and feuds has no official code to follow, and suppression is applied by secret censors ... More
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DAMASCUS UNMASKED
By Rob Howatson, Special to The Globe and Mail
Syria's cash-strapped, censor-whipped film industry produces only a handful of features each year, but many cineastes consider the quality of these pictures to be disproportionately high. More
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Discovering Syrian Cinema: The Half-Meter Incident
By Prairie Miller, WBAI Arts Magazine
It has been said about the film industry in the US, that it's a business whose commercial product just happens to be movies. Which brings up a far more intriguing question, namely what is the nature of the motivations and self-expression of filmmakers in countries where creative profiteering is not sanctioned and the move industry is state sponsored. More
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Festival brings fruits of Syrian cinema to the Big Apple: 'Who knew they made such good films in Syria?'
By Christopher Atamian, Special to The Daily Star
NEW YORK: How do you make films in a country run by a quasi-socialist dictatorship, where a state agency funds all existing production and imposes strict limitations on the expressions of its artists? If you're Syrian, then the answer is with a lot of skill, irony, depth of feeling, patience - and above all talent. More
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Review: Lens on Syria
By Stephen Holden, The New York Times
Pity Salem (BASSAM KOUSA) and Nada (SAMAR SAMI), the nervous Syrian sweethearts who meet in a dirty borrowed apartment for a secret rendezvous in NABIL MALEH's film "THE EXTRAS." Even in privacy, they feel the snooping eyes and ears of the world just outside the door. More
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The Bad And The Beautiful: Syrian cinema comes out swinging at the Walter Reade
By Ionnis Mookas, GCN
As the tempest blows over Tribeca, a quiet storm is brewing at the scaffolding-corseted Walter Reade with a panorama of Syrian films, one of the national cinemas yet to enjoy its 15 minutes. More
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