A revealing new season of films at the Ica looks at the links between religion and revolt
Do the roots of the Arab spring lie in cinema? The question seems absurd: surely kleptocratic dictatorship, youth unemployment and grain prices all played a more important part. Iranian film scholar Hamid Dabashi disagrees: "If you want to understand the emotive universe from which the Arab spring arose, cinema is a good place to start. Look at a film like Elia Suleiman's Divine Intervention: there the director spits out an apricot pit at an Israeli tank and blows it up. The scene is both fantasy and prophecy."
Dabashi will be speaking this month at Winds of Change, a series of talks and screenings at the Ica in London showcasing films from across the Muslim world; it hopes to explore the rich, sometimes fraught relationship between religion and civic society. Özer Kiziltan's...
Do the roots of the Arab spring lie in cinema? The question seems absurd: surely kleptocratic dictatorship, youth unemployment and grain prices all played a more important part. Iranian film scholar Hamid Dabashi disagrees: "If you want to understand the emotive universe from which the Arab spring arose, cinema is a good place to start. Look at a film like Elia Suleiman's Divine Intervention: there the director spits out an apricot pit at an Israeli tank and blows it up. The scene is both fantasy and prophecy."
Dabashi will be speaking this month at Winds of Change, a series of talks and screenings at the Ica in London showcasing films from across the Muslim world; it hopes to explore the rich, sometimes fraught relationship between religion and civic society. Özer Kiziltan's...
- 9/20/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Branchage Festival, Jersey
The nation's most intrepid film festival offers up another eclectic mix of music-backed movies and screenings in whatever novel locations the island can muster. So in the latter camp, you can watch surf films at the local surfboard factory, Afghanistan doc Restrepo in the army barracks, Of Gods And Men in a church, and rustic hits like Le Quattro Volte in a barn. In the former, DJ Rob Da Bank mixes a new score for King Kong, and London psych-rockers Teeth Of The Sea "re-imagine" dystopian thriller Doomsday.
Various venues, Thu to 25 Sep
Winds Of Change: Cinema From Muslim Societies, London
There has been extra interest in Arab cinema since the Arab spring but this is the first festival to come as a direct response to it. As such, it assembles films dealing with democracy, modernity, human rights and religion. Not that Arab cinema wasn't dealing with...
The nation's most intrepid film festival offers up another eclectic mix of music-backed movies and screenings in whatever novel locations the island can muster. So in the latter camp, you can watch surf films at the local surfboard factory, Afghanistan doc Restrepo in the army barracks, Of Gods And Men in a church, and rustic hits like Le Quattro Volte in a barn. In the former, DJ Rob Da Bank mixes a new score for King Kong, and London psych-rockers Teeth Of The Sea "re-imagine" dystopian thriller Doomsday.
Various venues, Thu to 25 Sep
Winds Of Change: Cinema From Muslim Societies, London
There has been extra interest in Arab cinema since the Arab spring but this is the first festival to come as a direct response to it. As such, it assembles films dealing with democracy, modernity, human rights and religion. Not that Arab cinema wasn't dealing with...
- 9/16/2011
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.