FEATURE FILMS

BEYOND OUR DREAMS

Director: Hiner Saleem
Cast: Olivier Sitruk, Rosanna Vite Mesropian. France-Armenia-Italy 2000 / 100m
French and Kirmanji with English subtitles.

"Hiner Saleem's second feature tracks a young refugee couple's flight from Kurdistan to hopeful sanctuary in Paris, braving travails comic and tragic on their long, serpentine path. Already struggling toward an uncertain destination at the outset, childhood sweethearts Dolovan and Zara are first seen huffing across the frozen Caucasian Mountains. Not by choice: Saying "We have no country," Dolovan is resigned to the necessity of leaving their lifelong village in Mesopotamia, where ethnic strife has drawn a vicious line between local Kurds and their suddenly intolerant neighbours. Zara is more reluctant, and their odyssey starts very badly as her elderly parents, lagging behind, are lost to the elements."

(Dennis Harvey, Variety)

BLACKBOARDS (PG)

Director: Samira Makhmalbaf
Cast: Saeed Mohamadi, Bahman Ghobadi, Behnaz Jafari.
Iran-Italy-Japan 2000 / 80m
Sorani with English subtitles.

Iranian Kurdistan, near the border with Iraq. A group of itinerant teachers wander in search of pupils. After using their blackboards, which they carry on their backs, to take cover from an army helicopter, the group split up. One teacher, Saïd (Saeed Mohamadi), encounters an old man who asks him to read a letter from his son. Another, Reeboir (Bahman Ghobadi), meets a party of boys carrying contraband stolen goods to be smuggled across the border; he tries to persuade them to accept him as a teacher.

THE BOY WHO STOPPED TALKING

Director: Ben Sombogaart
Cast: Ercan Orhan, Halsho Hussain, Brader Musiki.
Netherlands 1997 / 108m
Kirmanji and Dutch with English subtitles.

Anyone who's ever experienced the upheaval and sadness that comes with leaving the place you've called home will appreciate the charm and candour of this heartfelt family tale. For young Memo, the concept of "home" is particularly significant since he's a Kurd, a minority constantly in search of a homeland and frequently dispossessed of the claims they stake. Memo is perfectly content with his village life: goofing around with his best friend Mustafa, tending the sheep and working as the local postman. But when Memo's father, Hüsnü, suddenly returns from Holland, Memo's life changes forever.

THE BURNING PARADISE

Director: Araz Rashid
Cast: Parosh Muharam, Vian Azad, Mostafa Ahmad
Sweden 1999 / 80m
Sorani with English subtitles.

A young veterinarian tries to help a wounded boy who has been shot by the Iraqi police as he tries to draw a swastika on Saddam Hussein's poster. They flee from the city to the liberated area. The veterinarian falls in love with the local mayor. This starts a conflict with her family. The conflict goes on until the Iraqi Army attacks the village.

GAS ATTACK

Director: Kenny Glenaans
Cast: Sherko Zen-Aloush, Benae Hassan, Robina Quereshi, Laurie Ventry, Morag Caulder
Br 2001 / 75m
in English.

A film examining the plight of asylum-seekers in Glasgow. Joint-funded by Channel 4 and Scottish Screen, the film explores the havoc wrought on Glasgow's Kurdish community by a lone terrorist, motivated by racism and armed with a supply of a deadly germ. It is launched amid continuing tension in the Sighthill area of the city, which saw the murder of F¦rsat Y¦ld¦z in August, followed by the stabbing of a second man two days later.

THE HERD (Sürü)

Director: Zeki Ökten / Y¦lmaz Güney
Cast: Tar¦k Akan, Melike Demirag, Tuncel Kurtiz.
Turkey 1978 / 114m
Turkish with English subtitles.

The film tells the story of a family of nomadic shepherds destroyed by their contact with modern civilization as they transport a flock of sheep by train to Ankara. The central figure in the film is the son who tries to heal the rifts caused by family vendettas and to adapt to modern society. Eventually he is destroyed - driven to inarticulate revolt and then promptly beaten and arrested - just as the old patriarch is swallowed up in the anonymity of sprawling present day Ankara.

JOURNEY TO THE SUN (15)

Director: Yesim Ustaoglu
Cast: Newroz Baz, Nazmi Kirik, Mizgin Kapazan.
Turkey-Netherlands-Germany 1999 / 104m
Turkish with English subtitles.

JOURNEY TO THE SUN's central focus is the relationship between Mehmet, a young Turk who has come to Istanbul to make a living, and the older and more astute Berzan, a Kurdish political activist on the lookout for new recruits to the Kurdish struggle for independence. As their friendship evolves and deepens, the extent of Berzan's political activism is unveiled. He is an active participant in demonstrations in support of Kurdish political prisoners on hunger strike in a Turkish jail, and is also involved in recruiting young converts to Kurdish political groups.

THE PHOTOGRAPH (Fotograf)

Director: Kazim Öz
Cast: Feyyaz Duman, Nazmi Kirik, Mizgin Kapazan, Zülfiye Dolu.
Turkey 2000 / 66m
Turkish and Kirmanji with English subtitles.

An imaginatively shot and revealing film following the stories of two young men travelling to Turkish Kurdistan by bus. They sit next to each other, each of them hiding the reason for his journey from the other. Who are they? Where are they going? And why? A strange kind of proximity and warmth develops between the two of them. The road, the cigarettes and the discomfort they have shared leaves a trace that will reverberate after their paths have separated.

ROADBLOCKS

Director: Stavros Ioannou
Cast: Hussein Abdulah, Ahmet Guli, Falaha Hassan.
Greece 2000 / 98m
Sorani with English subtitles.

Greek documentary maker Ioannou's feature film tells the story of the desperate attempts of Kurdish refugees to cross Europe in a documentary fashion. In the opening scene, Huseyin from Iraqi Kurdistan crosses a river and minefield on his way across hostile Turkey to find his brother, Ahmet, who has vanished in Greece. Learning he left for Italy by an overcrowded rubber raft, Hussein calls his father and ask him to sell their house in the village to finance his search.The film does not "feature" actors who portray the truth of others' lives but rather follows unknown faces in their real adventures.

A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES (PG)

Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Cast: Nezhad Ekhtiar-Dini, Amaneh Ekhtiar-Dini, Madi Ekhtiar-Dini.
Kurdistan-Iran 2000 / 80m
Farsi and Sorani with English subtitles.

In Iranian Kurdistan, very near the border with Iraq, five brothers and sisters live at subsistence level. The younger boy has a serious illness. The medicine he takes is expensive, and the doctor says he has to be operated on soon to have a chance of surviving. Despite the efforts of the eldest brother who takes on lots of odd jobs, the family is unable to pay for the operation. So, the elder sister accepts to marry an Iraqi who is prepared to give them financial help for the operation. However, the future spouse's family refuses to let the sick boy cross the border.

YOL (The Journey) (15)

Director: Serif Gören / Yilmaz Güney
Cast: Tarik Akan, Halil Ergün, Meral Orhonsay, Semra Uçar.
Turkey 1982 / 111m
Turkish with English subtitles.

The notoriously brutal Turkish prison system undergoes a rare moment of compassion in YOL. Five convicts are given a week's leave from jail so that they may visit their friends, families and lovers. Sadly, each of the men is confronted with tragedy, disillusionment or both upon arriving home. Writer Y¦lmaz Güney knew what he was talking about: he spent much of his adult life in prison for various political activities. Using the 'limited-leave' device as a launching pad, Güney uses the journey to savagely skewer many of Turkey's antiquated sociopolitical attitudes, notably the subjugation of women.