|* books. "Women, Islam and Cinema" by Gönül Dönmez-Colin
"
Dönmez-Colin speaks of the insidious and conservative ways in which cinema in many Islamic countries has portrayed women. Her sweep is large: she covers India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and draws careful analogies and contradictions that exist within and among these countries. Inevitably, cinema’s depiction of women as actresses, directors and spectators grows out of the prevailing social and political atmosphere: stifling patriarchy and female subordination." -
read more
|* cinema. Voices of Iraq VS Turtles Can Fly.
During
the POFF festival in Tallinn this year, we were able to see the movie from Iraq called "
Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand" ("Turtle Can Fly"), 2004. I was lucky to watch another movie of this director before - "
Zamani barayé masti asbha" ("A Time for Drunken Horses"). I can say that his style of movies really appealed to me. It is different from any other movies, which show the difficulties and horrors of the war.
The director
Bahman Ghobadi is an Iranian Kurd and has a strong emotional bound to the issues of events in the Middle East. In his interview he said that while he was on his trip to finish and promote "A Time for Drunken Horses", he was shocked by the things he saw and decided to film as fast as possible. The movie was done in the very short period of time. I think that is the reason for it being so concentrated, powerful and touching. The story of "Turtles can fly" unfolds near the Turkey-Iran border and tells about the lives of orphans village. Children earn their living by collecting and selling the mines. I liked how the beginning and the end form the circle: in the beginning all chidren wait for the Americans, one boy asks: "Do you want to meet Americans?", in the end we get the same phrase, but the meaning is completely different. Now the American troops represent not the bright and perfect future, but the same hard times for Iraqi civilians again. I think that Bahman Ghobadi wanted to show that under the Saddam Iraq suffered. Then Iraqi people were promised future and fooled. There are, of course, pluses of the fall of Saddam, but there are many minuses of the way it was done and what it lead to.
In opposition to "Turtles can fly" I would suggest to watch "
Voices of Iraq", 2004. It is a documentary movie, which claim to have been directed by people of Iraq. For more information you can check
the official website of the movie. The movie is believed to create the new genre of cinema. The producers distributed more than 150 digital video cameras across Iraq to people, who filmed their everyday life and end up with more than 400 hours of footage. Later on it was edited and issued as documentary. There is a big controvercy over the whole matter. Those working in cinema or media can understand that having any raw material you can create any position you like through the means of editing. It is more than easy to choose the favoured opinions and to omit the unwanted ones.
There has been an interesting comment posted on the board of IMDB, with the topic "
Propaganda: Producers of this movie= ties to Bush Administration", which lead to many people arguing with each other. You need to register to be able to see the topic, but I will put a quote from that comment here:
"
If you do not think that this film has any political ties, then read some of this. The public relations group called Manning, Selvage & Lee (MS&L) (one of the largest U.S. public relations companies, estimated to have more than 1,000 employees and approximately $100 million in turnover)did publicity for this film. It happens to be the same group that runs all of those "ARMY OF ONE" ads for the U.S. Army. Don't tell me that this film was directed by "The People of Iraq." That has got to be the most misleading title EVER, and the PR Firm and the Producers should be ashamed of themselves for taking footage of these people, and editing it to the political message they wanted to push.[...]
Also, the film was produced with much help from "The Iraq Foundation," which provided all of the toture footage. They are located in Washington DC, and the foundation receives their funding from the State Department, which is headed by Colin Powell, a member of the Bush Administration..[...]
Independent Documentaries do not get funded by the Government and publicized by huge firms like "Manning, Selvage, and Lee." Look at their website, http://www.mslpr.com/"
What can I say from my side? Watch the two movies for yourself and make up you mind. I think that there cannot possibly be 100% true approach or representation of any subject, so it is always useful to look at all points of view. We can never be sure who is right and who is wrong. There will always be people for and against and it is not possible to make everyone happy at the same time.
|* cinema. Control Room, 2004.
What I consider to be very important in our world today is the opportunity to get information from different points of view. We live in the age of propaganda and media wars. We can never be sure that media coverage from one channel corresponds with the coverage from another channel. Politics use media to manipulate people's minds, trying to win the game. But the sufferings and the loss is among the civilians and that is the saddest truth.
One movie I would highly recommend to anyone interested in the media coverage on the war in Iraq, which started in 2003, is
Control Room. It is a movie about the role of the media, about the differences and similarities between opposing journalists and the media war. As
Samir Khader, the producer of Al Jazeera, stated in the beginning of the movie: "
You cannot wage a war without rumours, without media, without propaganda. Any military planner, if he doesn't put media propaganda at the top of his agenda, he is a bad militarist."
Control Room is the second film by Egyptian-American director
Jehane Noujaim (she co-directed 2001's
Startup.com with
Chris Hegedus). It is trully amazing that the director is a woman and that the decided to deal with such a hard issue as documentary on politics, and specially documentary on politics around the war in Iraq. My respect to her.
As written in the article of Chanel 4, "
Noujaim had intimate access to Al Jazeera's journalists and while there's no denying the channel's partisan position, the film avoids taking sides."
I got mixed feelings after watching this movie. It surely excited me, as I got the perspective on the war, but at the same time it horrified me.
It was shocking to know some facts. For example, that the US forces deliberatly bombed the position of Al Jazeera and two other arab channels in Baghdad just before the US troops came into town and "Iraqi" people took down the monument of Saddam. In the movie we get the same shots, but little bit from another angle and with comments. All "Iraqi" people going to the monument and portraying to be happy were of the same age, no women and coming together with the troops. There were no other people in the street. Noone else. All the scene looked very much being set up and fake.
A enjoyed the character of Al-Jazeera's journalist
Hassan Ibrahim, who was the head of Arabic news for the BBC before he joined al-Jazeera. Being very skeptical about the Bush administration, he is rather optimistic about the US Constitution and the American people. ("
The Americans will defeat the Americans. I have ultimate faith in the American Constitution.") Throughtout the movie he gave out many ironic comments and was always a person to make a sharp comment.
One more moment I would like to mention is when Al JAzeera is being criticized for showing the footage of dead American soldiers. The manager of AlJazeera.net,
Joanne Tucker, is accused of having a "position on the war". And she responds: "
Are any US journalists objective about this war? This word 'objectivity' is almost a mirage. If there was no agenda, if there was true neutrality there would be a welcoming of any and all information from all sides."
Of course, when Al Jazeera shows the footage of crying children and torn bodies, it has two reasons for that. First of all, there is a war going on and Al JAzeera is fighting on the side of the Arab interests. Secondly, they fulfill the requirements to translate news for more then 40 millions of Arabs and to match the expectations of them. All the media nowadays is build up like this in our market world.
Control Room is not a fancy documentary; it was filmed, I suppose, entirely on MiniDV, which has become the standard in home video cameras. The composition of some shots goes completely against all the rule of cinematography (like the shot where Samir Khader is giving a comment and you can see a big palm tree right behind his head, that makes his head look like in a funny outfit), but that is not the point. The point is that "Control Room" makes you stop and re-think many obvious facts. And it has sompletely succeeded in that.
|* caricature.
Is caricature a form of art? According to Wikipedia.Org:
"A caricature is a humorous illustration that exaggerates or distorts the basic essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness."Caricature is a special art form that helps to point out the most important issues in a humorous way. There are many "funny" images that pretend on being called caricature, whereas in fact they are tasteless and stupid. The real art of caricature includes professional approach, talent to see the subtext and sharp eye for the unexpected points. Usually caricature becomes popular during the political and social changes or important events. It is the way to make people pay attention by using the strongest wearpon - humour. There are many characteristics for a good caricature: a metaphot, grotesque, extra-ordinary and sharp solutions and independent thinking about government and society. Of course, sometimes caricature, as any other form of art, can be used as propaganda, creating a particular stereotype.
Today caricaturists in Saudi hope for more freedom to express themselves with the means of their works. From the article published in Middle East Online:
"Caricature is about drawings accompanied with small comments, but has large meanings either to mock or criticize." Many caricaturists in the Middle East admit that the World Wide Web has helped to make caricaturists' voices to be heard all over the world.
I would say that caricature is unique, because sometimes it is enough to look at one caricature and understand the main point and the whole situation instead of reading through numerous articles on the same topic.
I personally like the works of the cartoonist
Jeff Danziger
see more of them
hereAs and old Chinese proverb goes: "a picture is worth ten thousand words"
|* music. Arabic music, free download
Long time I haven't posted any links to music composition. Well, I have very good news. Recently I found a perfect music portal with thousands of mp3s all available for download. The only requirement is registration (you don't have to pay anything, just put in some info about yourself and enjoy music)
Mazika - The Arabic Music GatewayPlus different polls, albums reviews, forum and the hit list of the hottest songs.
P.S. I would reccoment Amr Diab that
once I already wrote about.
|* funny middle east
There are many funny things about the Middle East. Just have a moment and give some photos a look :)
|* photos. Yemen
The following photographs are mady by a groups of Russian tourists, who visited Yemen in February 2004.
(c) GalleryI was amazed by these photos! It feels like a totally different world. I would believe more that it is somewhere on another planet. It was even more interesting for me to read about the trip. I translated some main points-observations about Yemen:
It is hard for a foreigner to get some sleep there. Usually streets are busy till 23 o'clock. Cars are driving with a necessary constant honking to everyone and everything around, including cars, people, dogs or any kind of crossroad. After 23 o'clock cars disapper, but people keep on talking to each other, but in such high voices like we use to shout from a long distance. When people disappear as well, dogs are left, which bark almost all the night. And early in the morning, around 5 o'clock, they start the first praying.
It is typical for the people to carry guns and Kalashnikov.
Jambiya is a must-have kind of thing.
The building of a house in Yemen starts with an installation of a door. Then the rest of the house is built.
If you try to take a photo of a woman and she notices you, she will start to throw stones at you!
Smoking
hookah in Yemen is not respected and considered to be unhealthy. Therefore, everyone chews "
Khut" and around noon all men rush to market places, where they sell khut. Khut is being chewed and put aside behind a cheek during several hours. So somewhere close to the evening all men look rather funny with a khut behind their cheeks (like they have stuffed there a whole apple!)
Sometimes you can see a goat standing on the top of a car eating its breakfast - leaves from a tree next to the car.
|* calligraphy. Mohamed Zakariya.
Once I saw a movie by a British director
Peter Greenaway called "
The Pillow Book". Since then calligraphy and the art of writing facinates me. When doing the daily search for interesting things about the art of Middle East, I found the website of
Mohamed Zakariya, who is an Islamic calligrapher, artist, as well as a master woodworker, engraver, and machinist.
Zakariya also gives lectures lectures on Islamic calligraphy and has presented numerous workshops. His calligraphic works have been exhibited widely all over the world. Mohamed is the author of numerous articles and monographs. Apart from all that Zakariya also designs and constructs functioning examples of antique-style scientific instruments. Examples of these instruments can be found in the collections of the Aramco Science Museum in Saudi Arabia, the National Museum of Qatar, the Time Museum in Rockford, Ill., and the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.
In the picture above you can see the phrase "Muhammad, Peace and Blessings Upon Him (in Arabic)" That is the name of the Prophet and his prayer of blessing.
Isn't it amazing? Words blur into a pattern inviting a viewer for a tour into the world of harmony and beauty of the lines. Writing became a visual art form. The purpose is not only transferring the words as they are, but creating subtext, hidden meaning, emotions. The calligrapher can create things out of words, as they become objects, even more, they become living things. The act of writing then is a long creation process, meditation on life, Art with the capital "A".
|* cinema. Syriana - George Clooney in the Middle East again
All the coincidences amaze me more and more. I happened to search for news on George Clooney without any reason and the first articles I got was about a movie set in the Middle East. I went to the IMDB to check up on it and found out it was the movie of the hour, all animated advertisements were showing this movie. Well, what is it about?
A famour scripwriter
Stephen Gaghan ("
Traffic" 2000), who specializes on the burning issues of the day, is trying his strengths again in being a director of a movie. In 2002 he made his début with a thriller "
Abandon", and this time it is a political thriller "
Syriana" (2005). The basis for this project are the memories of a CIA operative Bob Barnes, which he wrote down in a book "See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIAs War on Terrorism". The topic is the constant activity of the USA in the countries of the Middle East. And the main role is played by George Clooney. Aparently, he became interested in politics of the Middle East after he played in the movie "
Three Kings".
I am more then eager to watch this movie.
|* cinema. Black Night Film Festival 2005. Poff.
Do you know why I love the end of the Fall term? As a normal student of course I just hate the workload, deadlines and exams, however, there is such a perfect reason to enjoy life during this time. And the reason is
the Black Night Film Festival aka POFF in Tallinn. This year it happens from the 2nd till the 11th of December.
There are a number of movies from the Middle East countries presented:
- 20 Fingers (Beest Anghosht) Iran, Great Britain 2004
the issues of men and women within the confines of the traditional and family life in Iran - Earth and Ashes (Khakestar-O-Khak), Afghanistan, France 2004
the old man’s journey to find his son, the story takes on the nature of a parable of desperation caused by destructive loss, and of the need and ability of the human spirit to face the horrors of war. - Iron Island (Jazireh Ahani) Iran 2005
a fast-paced tale about poor people in the Persian Gulf living aboard a sinking oil tanker - The Unwanted Woman Iran 2005
reveals opposition and clashes in relations - Turtles Can Fly (Lakposhta Ham Parvaz Mikonand) Iran, Iraq 2004
a refugee camp on the Turkish-Iraqi border where Kurds have fled from the surrounding villages. This is the other face of war, full of blood, fear and pain, which can turn a child’s heart to stone - Magia Russica Israel, Russia 2004
Fjodor Chytruk is one of the greatest Russian animators. The movie moves between the sights and sounds of Russia, and into the animated films. - To Take A Wife (Ve Lakachta Lecha Isha) Israel, France 2004
The story revolves around the home and the family, and describes the three days of preparation for the Shabbat - Waiting For The Clouds (Bulutlari Beklerken) Turkey, France, Germany, Greece 2004
Drawing on the novel Tamama by Yorgos Andreadis, the story takes place in the 1970s in the Turkish fishing village of Trebolu on the shores of the Black Sea, not far from the Soviet border
|* music. 'La Ya Amman' - Song condemning the terrorists attacks
Before I wrote that Moustapha Akkad died in the terrorists attacks in Jordan. Thanks to the blog
Mental Mayhem I come upon the
link to the Song "
La Ya Amman". The song is performed by several Jordanian singers (Zein Awad, Nany Petrao, Fadi Ghassan...) and condemns these attacks.
It is possible to
download the song here. And now there has been a video made for this song, you can
download it here.
|* cinema. Three Kings (1999)
In a war without heroes they are kings Troy Barlow: Are we shooting?
Soldier: What?
Troy Barlow: Are we shooting people or what?
Soldier: Are we shooting?
Troy Barlow: That's what I'm asking you!
Soldier: What's the answer?
Troy Barlow: I don't know the answer! That's what I'm trying to find out!... I think this guy has a weapon! Yeah, he does!
Shoots the guy, comes closer, sees that the guy had a white flag. Personally, I think there is the right time for everything. I know for sure that in the year 1999 this movie was made, I wouldn't be able to understand it, yet enjoy. Recently I came upon "I heart Huckabees" by
David O. Russell and went to movie database to check for his works. Guess what? I found out that "
Three Kings" my brother liked so much many years ago, is not actually a stupid-hollywood-action movie. Now that I watched it, I can say the crew did a great job! Sharp dark humour, great plot, dramatic moments mixed with hard action and irony, what more to wish?
The story goes back to 1991, when USA libirated Kuwait and declared that the war was over. People are happy, journalists are there to cover the celebration story, soldiers are drinking like hell, dancing and singing "I love this land. God bless the U.S.A.!" But next day, while arresting more Iraqies, they found a map in on Iraqi guy's ass! Well, later on rumours claimed it was in his penis. Or ear. Or nose! Maj. Archie Gates (
George Clooney) goes to a "proctology" tent and gets a deal with the soldiers who have found the map. Four of them go and search for the bullions (not the little cubes you make a soup from) in the secret bunker. To make the story short, they did find the gold, but they also saw hundreds of people suffering, Iraqi Shiite civilians who have risen against Saddam Hussein, have been promised help from USA and abandoned. I think you already guessed what happens next: our brave three soldiers cannot just stay away with their gold, they try to help and save!
Basically, it is a movie about soul transformation of these guys. They got into Iraq, didn't do much, were supposed to be send back already, but went for the gold. Saw injustice, changed their "necessity", tried to help, failed in some way, in some way succeeded, but definitely looked over their beliefs and got educated on the true and selfish reasons of USA for war.
Thanks to the lecture of James Thurlow "Media Criticism" this term, I've learned what inoculation is according to Roland Barthes in his essay "Myth today" and "Operation Margarine". Well, this movie is a perfect example of inoculation.
While making a small research on this movie before writing a review, a came upon interesting facts.
- First, all the movie was shot in Arizona, and the director even sent two guys sectretly sneak in Iraq to take photos of the real area in order to find the best places in USA to film it.
- Then, do you remember the scene with the torture of Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg)? Well, he wished to get into role and asked to make it for real! Respect.
- I was laughing when I saw the propaganda leaflets with pictograms the USA oficer used to make Iraqi soldiers surrender. I was surprised to know they are actually the real ones used in the Gulf War! It reminded me the leaflets for American soldiers I came upon in the Internet searching for the Kurdish-English dictionary.
- The film was banned in Iraq.
- On the official website of the movie you can find a special presentation, "HOW TO SHOOT A SCENE WHERE YOU BLOW UP A HELICOPTER WITH AN EXPLODING FOOTBALL." The feature includes a detailed shot list, storyboards, production photos and sketches.
Moments to remember? Here we go:
- Cow being blown by the mine.
- Explanation of how a bullet tears into the gut. Or lungs being sqeezed by the air pressure.
- Milk truck shot through and the milk just pours outside, Iraqi people drinking it from the ground.
- Children running through the mine field and Mark Wahlberg running after them to stop (reminded me the scene from "Turtles can fly", movie from Iraq, where the child is so close to step on one).
- Sadam's soldier telling about his son being killed by USA troops while bombing, and his wife lost her legs. That makes a great impression on the Wahlberg. In fact, I so much liked how Mark played in this movie! I can say that his character somehow partly transfered to the new "I heart Huckabees" movie by the same director, where he played the guy being totally depressed by the cruelty of this world and strongly against usage of oil.
What else? An American football ball turned into a bomb and being thrown at the Sadam's helicopter, Bang!
And Gucci bags! Oh yeah, man, Gucci bags full of gold!
|* dance. art of Belly Dancing.
What image pops up in your head when you hear “Belly dance”? Mystery, exoticism, erotica, seduction… ? Girls dancing in the sparkling light apparels, tempting clinking sounds of coins on their belts and the atmosphere of relaxing and pleasure. That is a true delight to watch a skilled minx hypnotizes you into fairytales of 1001 nights with the dance.
However, neither language in the Middle East uses the name of any part of the body. In Arabic this dance is called "
raqs sharqi" and in Turkish - "
Oryantal tansi". The translation of both terms is "dance of the East", or "Oriental dance". Calling this form of dancing a "belly dance" might be considered vulgar by many Middle Eastern people.
As the history goes, the origins of the Oriental dance are in North Africa, the Middle East, and as far east as Iran. Some say it might have been used to support childbirth.
In the beginning the Oriental dance was performed primarily in family-oriented events like weddings, circumcisions, bar mitzvahs (don't be surprised, Jewish families did it too!), and other occasions. Outsiders were rarely given any opportunity to witness it.
During the 19th century, Europeans became fascinated with "the Orient" and the word quickly spread that the dancers were one of the must-see attractions.
Whether they enjoyed the dancing or despised it, the exotic appeal of something so very different from their own homeland held a sort of fascination for them. Although previously the local women had danced only for family celebrations and community events, they discovered a new market for their talent: foreigners.The nightlife in clubs for the Oriental dance spread first in Cairo, Egypt, in the 1920's. Soon the same clubs also appreared in Beirut, Lebanon. Tourists wanted to spice up their lives with something exotic and thus musicians and dancers market flourished.
But enough of facts, what do we have today? Sometimes people still wrongfully regard "belly dancing" as similar to stripping, but luckily there are not a lot of those people. We have numerous places to learn the Oriental dance and, in fact, to keep fit doing it.
Have you ever tried belly dancing? If you did, you would probably know that it requires a very good stomack muscles condition. The first time I tried it, I couldn't move my hips, they were not shaking! I felt like Miranda in one of the Sex and the City episodes, when she complained to Carry that she would never be a girly woman, because her hips wouldn't pump. Finally, I had to practise every day for several weeks my stomack press in order to get my belly shaking.
The accident happened with
Susan Sarandon while she was practising the erotic dance moves for her new film 'Bernard and Doris'. Apparently she tried too hard and injured her back. That's again indicating that it is not so easy as it seams. Or that if you are 59 years old, it's better not to risk, even if you are a movie star.
P.S. places to learn Oriental dance in Tallinn, Estonia:- Ehitajate tee 109 a
tel 56637350, Maria
on Saturdays at 14.30
|* celebrities. Angelina Jolie in Pakistan
Angelina Jolie and her boyfriend
Brad Pitt spent their Thanksgiving in Pakistan. Jolie has been the UN Refugee Agency's goodwill ambassador since early 2001. Her four-day mission in Pakistan will help to focus world attention on the plight of over three million Afghan refugees.
After the actress visited the devastated parts of the disaster zone, she was so shocked that she decided to consider adopting a child there. Jolie, who has already adopted two orphans - a boy Maddox from Cambodia and a girl Zahara from Somalia, finds it to be a special thing: "There's something about making a choice, waking up and traveling somewhere and finding your family".
The actress is very worried about the future of more than three million Afghan refugees, who are still sheltering in Pakistan 25 years after war forced them to flee their native land.
"They’re very far out and they are very concerned about the winter coming", Jolie reminded.
By the way, during her visit, Jolie paid respect to the traditions of the place and was wearing
salwar kameez and
dupatta on her head. It is nice to know that apart from being rich and famous, some movie stars are concerned about tragedies in the world and try to help.
This photo I found to be rather interesting. Here Jolie climbs aboard a bus carrying Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan during her visit to the Kacha Gari refugee camp in Peshawar (Reuters Photo). Looks like her training for both Tomb Raider and Mr. and Mrs. Smith movies is not in vain.
Find more pictures
-here-
|* architecture . Zaha Hadid and Phaeno Science Museum in Germany.
On Friday, November 25, there was a big opening of a grand Science Museum in Wolfsburg, Germany.
The Science Center, Phaeno, is the first of its kind in Germany and presents to the visitors mysterious strangeness ruled by a system of structural organization. As it is said in the official press release, the building is structured in such a way that it maintains a large degree of transparent and porosity on the ground and an artificial crater-like landscape allowes diagonal views to the different levels of the exhibition-scape.
This entire alien-like wonder is designed by
Zaha Hadid, a female independent practitioner among today's most elite architects.Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1950, Hadid received her degree in mathematics from the American University in Beirut and studied at the Architectural Association in London, where she won the Diploma Prize in 1977. Upon graduation Hadid became a partner in the Office of Metropolitan Architecture, where she worked with influential architects
Rem Koolhaas and
Elia Zenghelis. Establishing her own practice in London in 1979, she soon gained international attention with her controversial winning entry for the Peak International Design Competition for Hong Kong in 1983.
Hadid was the only woman included in the Museum of Modern Art's 1988 Deconstructivist Architecture exhibition. Her first physically-realized project, the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein, Germany, spinned her career to a new phase. This small structure, which has been characterized as "frozen motion," reflects Hadid's frequent use of unusual shapes to integrate a building with its environment.
Some other works:
Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Arts, Cincinnati, Ohio
Center of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
I was trully amaized by her design and innovative ideas, as Hadid is consistently pushing the boundaries of architecture and urban design and experimenting with new spatial concepts. And last, but not least, in 2004 Zaha Hadid became a
Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize marking the first time a woman has been named for this 26 year old award.
more info on Zaha Hadid and her project can be found:
* on
her official website* in the
Online Media Kit from the Pritzker Architecture Prize website*
ARCspace.com
|* how is it to be rich in the middle east way?
I am fully aware that it doesn't have any connection to the art (well, at the same time, who knows? maybe it is art to be rich and to show off), but I came across the photos of the plane of King of Jordan, and I became speachless...
The story of living in style or no limits for the kings...
more photos are available
here.
|* photos. Ekaterina Vikulina
Istanbul 2005
    |
   
previews and photos formatted by fratrum
Ekaterina Vikulina is a professional photographer and art critic. She graduated from the European University in St. Petesburg (department of history of art).
There have been already a number of personal exhibitions, hundreds of publications in print media in Russia and Latvia. Currently lives in Riga.
|* cinema. Moustapha Akkad.
I might be a little bit late on picking up the news, I forgot to post about the significant loss.  There were at least 57 people who died in the bombings in Jordan and probably their names will not tell you anything. But it is enormously sad that a bright Arab American director (originally coming from Syria) Moustapha Akkad was among them. He is the author of such epic films as The Message and Lion of the Desert. (Well, he is more known to the wide public as a producer of the horror series about Halloween and Michael Myers). However, his much more important contribution is done in the field of potraying Islam in cinema. As Dr. Marcy Newman was writing in her blog " Body on the Line": "These films were a part of his effort to create Hollywood epics that would not demonize Arabs or Muslims. It saddens me that someone like Akkad, whose vision and spirit we need in Hollywood so desperately died. He was a rare one indeed". Akkad was currently involved in the new project shooting a movie about the legendary Kurdish hero Salahuddin born in Iraq, who would reclaim Jerusalem from the Crusaders in the 12th century. He even got the iconic Sean Connery on board to star in the movie. Akkad was coming from a small town of Aleppo in Syria and always thought of his homeland as being sacred. He shared fond memories of Syria, its people, the way he was brought up as a Muslim and as an Arab, the parables told to him by his father.
He was very passionate in describing his love for his religion and Arab causes and his disdain for terrorism.
Ironically, it would be terrorism that would end his life.
|* documentary. Fallujah - The Hidden Massacre.
 Recently there was shown the Italian documentary "Fallujah - The Hidden Massacre" on Rai TV. Now everyone is talking about the use of the unconventional weapons in Fallujah. Khalid Jarrar wrote in his blog Secret in Baghdad that he knew about the use of chemical weapons in Falluja, because simply everyone in Iraq knows, and everyone that was in Falluja knows it. He continues: "One of my friends, a very brave Iraqi girl that was working on her own to evacuate civilians from inside Falluja during the fight ( yes, of course there were civilians inside the city ) told me that an American soldier asked her specifically not to eat or drink anything inside the city, you know what that means? yah, I guess you do". Khalid also points out that the scandal about the abuse of prisoners in an Interior Ministry bunker in Baghdad came across right after the explosive and revealing Italian documentary. Coincidence? He also doubts the official story for the U.S. troops to go and search for a teenager. "this is SO wag the dog (they were going to help the cute girl with the white cat in the movie [" Wag the dog"]) so the American army sent a number of soldiers to look for a 15 years old boy because his parents were searching for him? OOHH YAAAA RIIIGGHTTT... and accidentally while carrying out that noble sweet hearted operation, carrying roses and flowers to give to the poor little boy, they stumbled up on 173 detainees, of course! Is there any crazy one among you that question that story?" At the same time Raed Jarrar in his blog "Raed in the Middle: Caught between the East and the West" wrote: "There was a very wide use of depleted uranium (DU) against Iraqi armored tanks and buildings, and many of these tanks and buildings were in the middle of residential areas. My friends from GNN included some informative parts about DU in their excellent documentary: "BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge". We went together to some places hit with DU bullets, and tested the area with a Geiger counter. In addition to that, I took many pictures (and even some samples) of some walls in the middle of Nasiriya (the southern Iraqi city). The walls were full of nails! Hundreds, or maybe thousands, of nails because of a US nail bomb that targeted one of the city's oldest cinemas". I do remember in the beginning of the war myself reports on Russian channels about 'unconventional' weapons being used against civilians in Iraq. I wonder how come people tend to forget such crutial facts the second they dessappear from the media agenda? And why all the attention will be turned away again if another scandal pops up?
|* photos. Jean-Marc Bouju - winner of World Press Photo in 2003
 A photo made by Jean-Marc Bouju during the war in Iraq in 2003 won the price of the World Press Photos Competition and became rather famous. It is a photo of an Iraqi war prisoner at a U.S. detention camp with a hood on his head and holding his fraigttened son. For me this photo symbolizes the sufferings of people in any war. It doesn't matter who that person is or who put the hood on his head. The image of the barbed wire is very strong. At the same time it is a story of love of a father towards his son even druing the hard times.
|* cinema. Osama (2003)
 Recently, a movie has been issued on DVD in the Baltics about the hard life in Afganistan under the power of Taliban. " Osama" tells the story of a 12-yer-old girl, who was forced to disguise herslef as a boy in order to go working and not to starve from hunger. As we see from the movie, during the Taliban regime women were forbidden to work or to walk in the streets alone without being escorted by a male (a father, a brother, a son or a husband). "Osama" is the first entirely Afghan film shot since the fall of the Taliban, because before that all the filmings were banned in Afghanistan. The director of the movie, Siddiq Barmak, used the real people and amateurs for filming. He found the main character, Marina Golbahari, on the streets of Kabul. The movie was inspiried by the real story of a girl, who wanted to go to school, but it was banned. Then she cutted her hair and "became" a boy. I got the strange feeling while watching this movie. Like the viewers are forced to notice the horrors of that time. I understand that it was so terrible, but in the movie all the details are put right in front of your face, you have no other choice but to look at them. Right from the beginning I understood that the movie cannot have a happy end. The symbolic marriage and rape in the end speak loader then words or any facts. But kill me, I couldn't believe that the old guy is still capable of doing anything regarding sex. But he is a trully disgusting character in the movie. I know why he locks his wives at home each in her room, otherwise they would long time ago got together and smashed his head. In general, I cannot say that "Osama" is the greatest movie I've ever seen. But it has a great meaning for the changes in Afghanistan.
|* cinema. Chasing the Freedom. 2004.
 IMDB link about the movieDirected by Don McBreartyWritten by Barbara SamuelsI surely enjoyed watching this movie and had tons of my questions answered. This movie (more correctly, TV series) was based on a true story of an Afghan woman seeking asylum in the US before the September tragedy. An ambitious and busy lawyer (Juliette Lewis) has to take a pro bono asylum case of Meena (Layla Alizada), who was teaching students in Afghanistan despite the ban of Taliban. Meena has no documents. She cannot prove who she is, because the only person who can identify her is her brother. And contacting him means putting his and his wife's lives in great danger. Before watching this movie, I didn't understand, why refugees don't have any documentation when they come to another country. The problem is that they leave their countries with fake IDs, passports or hidding. If they get caught when they try cross the border to get out and any real document is found, they are stopped and most probably put to prison or worse. When they arrive to another country, they through out the fake documents and are left totally 'armless' in front of the court system. Before they get the asylum, which allows to stay in the country and get the status of refugee, they are 'detained' in a brusque INS center like prisoners. This woman had excaped from the terror of the tyrany regime and had to live one year (!) under psychological attack and pressure already in the free country of the U.S. I don't want to judge the fairness of the U.S. legal system in this case. But this movie openes the eyes for those, who live and don't ever think about the cruelties happenning in our world nowadays. In the beginning the lawyer was not willing to put a lot of effort into the case, and she was asking a lot of questions. I can say, most of them were exactly my questions. Even if I heard about Taliban, I couldn't imagine all the horror. There is a good episode when the lawyer goes to Organisation for the Rigths of Women in Afghanistan. She asks about Taliban and the woman in charge says something like "Yes, there is oppression, tyrany and discrimination. People are executed on the stadium to make a show out of it. No freedom of speech, no freedom at all. And yes, nobody speaks about it so much, as nobody cares".
|* photos. Carolyn Brown.
  Amazing photos, beautiful landscapes and panoramas. Iraq, Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Yemen
|* music. Amr Diab, Egiptian singer
 Amr Diab (Amr Abd-Albaset Abd-Alziz Diab), a new born star for his phenomenal singing talent in Egypt. Amr Diab's hard work and passion to creating quality music and new stylised musical techniques was his ultimate aim throughout the years. He has certainly and clearly delivered to all his multi-national fans around the globe and proved that he is one of the best Middle Eastern singers with extraordinary talent, determination, charisma and charming appearance. Download his albums:The Best of Amer Diab Vol.1The Best of Amer Diab Vol.2Tamally Maik
|* photos. World Press Photo - 2nd place winner
 (c) Paul Vreeker, The Netherlands, Reuters. I found this photo to be very vivid and full of meaning without any words. And that is the amazing wonder of photography, to my mind. From the official website of World Press Photo: " Iranian asylum-seeker Mehdy Kavousi sewed up his lips and eyelids and went on hunger strike to protest against his threatened deportation from the Netherlands, in February. That month, in a move to tighten immigration procedures, the Dutch government had proposed legislation to expel some 26,000 unsuccessful asylum-seekers. Kavousi ended his protest after 44 days, with the authorities refusing to budge. Officials had said that in order to stay with his Dutch partner, he needed to have filled out a form in Iran. The immigration department turned down his request that an exception be made to this rule. A month after ending his protest, after new information had come to light, Kavousi's case was re-opened and he was given leave to remain in the Netherlands."
|* architecture. Sheba's Palace - the wonder of the World
 American archeologists claim that they have found one more wonder of the world in Yemen. Madlen Phillips from the USA told the journalists that the ruins and the numerous things found next to the Palace of the Queen Sheba are three thousand years old! According to the legend, during the ruling time of Bilqis (her name in Islamic tradition), also known as Sheba, Yemen was the richest country in the world. It was described as a wonderland, where the sand is more valuable then the gold, where the trees grow from the heaven garden and people don't know what war is. All what is left from the richness of Yemen are the ruins and the legend about the Queen as smart as King Solomon!
|* shopping. Shop for the art online
 If you are interested in the works of artists from Israel, you should check the following website: Mira - Your online shop in JerusalemAs they write on their site "We deal only with the very best and well known Israeli artists, including Magda Watts, Elana, Ayala Bar, Gaya Smith, Avi Sofer…. Many are award-winning artists."
|* cinema, links.
Sinbad Multimedia is a small production company from the UK, which makes innovative, artistic and progressive films on the Arab and Muslim worlds. There is a list of movies with the basic information about them. You can order the films in the online shop. Arab Film Districbution. When they began educating the world about Arab Cinema, they had only five films in their library. As written on their webpage: " Our purpose is to make the "Arab point of view" as accessible as possible by turning our documentary library into a powerful educational tool. We hope that our films will entertain as well as bring into focus the issues that concern the status and future of the Arab world." Tons of movies, structured by the countries and available for purchasing over the internet.
|* cinema. Annual Arab Film Festival
 This year the 9th Annual Arab Film Festival took place in San Francisco, San Jose and Berkeley September 23rd - October 2nd 2005. More than thirty films were shown, including feature narrative films, shorts and documentaries that reflect the variety of Arab Cinema throughout the world. Unfortunately, I have not much to say about the films screened there, as I heard only about few of them. Unfortunatly, there is no opportunity for me to travel so far just for the festival. However, I hope in the future I will.
|* links.
Just few links you might want to check. - Darat Al-Funun - Khalid Shoman Foundation - home for the Arts and the artists of Jordan and the Arab world. The Darat al Funun is dedicated to promoting contemporary creativity in the widest possible sense. Many exhibitions are devoted to the most innovative Jordanian, Palestinian, and other Arab artist, and reveal the creative dynamism of contemporary ideas and forms, and to contribute to the nurturing of contemporary Arab culture.
- Islamic Architecture - Articles on buildings, trends, architects, art of the Muslim and Arab world (past and present).
- The Art of Arabic Calligraphy - you can also find an interview with Mamoun Sakkal about Modern Arabic Typography
- Mohamed Zakariya Calligraphy - articles, gallery, history and development, tools
- Islamic Architecture - Art, dynasties, mosques, palaces, techniques...
- Islamic & Arabic Arts & Architecture - a non-profit organization dedicated to providing information on arts and architecture. Explains the historical and cultural significance of Islamic and Arabic artifacts.
|* music. BeirutBiloma 2004
BeirutBiloma - BeirutBiloma Beirut is Arabia's gate to the world (especially the western world). Beirut Biloma is the cutting-edge sound of Arabia - the meeting and fusion of Arabia's authentic sounds with international music, especially chillout, dance, & R&B; and like many creatively adventurous international acts it features promising and exciting talents: singers, DJs, arrangers, and musicians. List: 01 - Take me to Beirut (Biloma) 02 - I Ana (feat. Lix 03 - Azoza (feat. Angels of Harem) 04 - Harem (feat. Sarah Brightman) 05 - In rah minik ya ein (Cairo mix feat. Rudy) 06 - Shaifni shi? (feat. Lamees & Aks'ser) 07 - Mazaj (feat. Oumeima) 08 - Hawil ya ghanaam (feat. Nathalie) 09 - X-ray 10 - Babylon 2 Beirut 11 - 1001 nights & days (feat. Shahrazad) 12 - Shady il alhan (feat. Rudy) 13 - Hubbley Bubbley 14 - Another half in Monot st. Download Berut from here
|* music. Nancy Ajram - Dubai 2005
Nancy Ajram - Dubai 2005Nacy Ajaram is the #1 pop idol now in the Arab world. Download her new album: Dubaj 2005
|* music. Ron Goodwin & His Orchestra.
I am starting a small tradition. From now on I will post music albums, which are related to Middle East. Surprise - it can be downloaded! Enjoy! The first one is Ron Goodwin & His Orchestra - Music For An Arabian Night (Capitol) (1959) 01 - windows of the east.mp3 2.4 mb 02 - bazaar.mp3 2.1 mb 03 - old beirut.mp3 2.8 mb 04 - wedding dance.mp3 2.1 mb 05 - return to paradise.mp3 3.5 mb 06 - arab feast.mp3 2.3 mb 07 - dancing eyes.mp3 2.1 mb 08 - come back to me.mp3 2.4 mb 09 - barefoot girl.mp3 2.1 mb 10 - the moon and i.mp3 3.1 mb 11 - desert hero.mp3 2.1 mb 12 - the cedars of lebanon.mp3 3.5 mb  Vip download |
|* photos. women rights in Afghanistan.
 *to see more photographs of Afghan Women by A. Raffaele Ciriello go -here-To continue the topic of women's rigths in Afghanistan touched in the movie "Chasing Freedom" some links and information: "Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, many would agree that the political and cultural position of Afghan women has improved substantially. The recently adopted Afghan constitution states that "the citizens of Afghanistan - whether man or woman- have equal rights and duties before the law". So far, women have been allowed to return back to work, the government no longer forces them to wear the all covering burqa, and they even have been appointed to prominent positions in the government. Despite all these changes many challenges still remain. The repression of women is still prevalent in rural areas where many families still restrict their own mothers, daughters, wives and sisters from participation in public life. They are still forced into marriages and denied a basic education. Numerous school for girls have been burned down and little girls have even been poisoned to death for daring to go to school". - Abdullah Qazi Afghanistan's Girls Fight to Read and Write - New York Times article published March 9, 2000. (Free) Registration required. The Plight of the Afghan Woman - links to articles discussing the status of women in Afghanistan. Includes photographs. Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) - website of an independent political organization of Afghan women. Site contains news reports, documents, publications, and information on events. Stop Gender Apartheid In Afghanistan - contains a fact sheet, press releases, and actions that can be taken by concerned people. Site in PDF format only. Women and the Taliban - by Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, Ann Telnaes. Women in Afghanistan - links from About.com Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan - nonprofit organization advocating Afghan women's rights. Contains some reports, articles, and photographs.
|* ceramics. Sylvia Safiya Godlas
 I am trying to get interested in many spheres of art, not only limit myself to cinema and photography. While searching throught many webites of Islamic Art, I found Sylvia Safiya Godlas, who is an artist and teacher specializing in traditional Islamic art. To be honest, I was never into ceramics, but her works made me wonder about the beauty of Calligraphy and Patterns in Islamic culture. Among the countries to which Sylvia Safiya Godlas has traveled are: Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Israel, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. She is the president of the International Muslimah Artists Network (IMAN) and helped establish its founding principles in 1997.
|* photos. Masood Kamandy.
 A New York based photographer Masood Kamandy went to live and teach in Afghanistan. He came up with a very brave idea of the first photography courses at Kabul University. As he is writing himself on his website in the section about the project information: "This is a unique and hopeful time in the history of Afghanistan, and one that deserves to be captured by Afghan artists for the world to see. Their perceptions of their own culture and history will give the rest of the world a unique lens to see the Afghan people and landscape through... Photography is learning how to see within a frame, isolating what is important, and, at times, confronting with a critical eye the reality before us". Working with Stephen Frailey (Photography Department Chair at the School of Visual Arts), the Visual Arts Foundation, and other many generous sponsors, they set out to establish a 4 year photography degree program at Kabul University. The program began on March 22, 2005, and the first graduates will get their Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography in 2009. Masood Kabul was keeping the diary of the progress in his weblog "Dispatch from Kabul". I really enjoyed his stories. For example, he was teaching Photoshop to the class of girls and...: "Our first project was transforming a scanned image in order to better understand screen resolution versus print resolution, layers, levels and curves. You guessed it: our subject was my scan of Mullah Omar, in many ways the arch nemesis of these educated women in positions of power at this new lab. When his picture came up on the screen, they giggled and a hand went up: “Professor Masood, is there any way in Photoshop that we can remove his beard? I think that would be a very useful skill.” By the end of class, we had made him pink, cloned in a good eye over his bad one, and lightened his beard a bit." Unfortunately, he didn't stay and left after 4 and a half months of studying. You can follow his posts and read about the reason. He started to feel much of a freak there and missed his home and people he loves. He worked on this project for 3 years!
|* photos. Shirin Neshat.
  (c) Shirin Neshat: Shirin Neshat is originally from Iran, but now she lives in New York, the U.S., her works explores issues of her native society, Iran, particularly the rights of women. Her creative works communicate such ideas as loss, meaning, and memory.
|* photos. Steve McCurry
"McCurry has published books and covered areas of international and civil conflict, including Burma, Yemen, Kashmir, and Cambodia. He has won many of photojournalism’s highest awards". (c) Steve McCurryProbably you've seen the famous photograph of an Afghan refugee girl with the bold look of a wolf-cub. This photo was taken by Steve McCurry, one of finest image makers. He keeps the tradition of documentary, capchuring the deep insides of the human nature. As written in his bio: "His career was launched when, disguised in native garb, he crossed the Pakistan border into rebel-controlled Afghanistan just before the Russian invasion. When he emerged, he had rolls of film sewn into his clothes, images which would be published around the world as among the first to show the conflict there". After Soviet helicopters destroyed this 12-year-old girl's village, she was forced to make a two-week walk out of the dangerous mountains towards to border of Afghanistan with Pakistan. Her eyes were so expressive, telling the story without any words, all the pain, all the struggle, that the photo was published on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985. This photo was used on rugs and tattoos and became one of the most widely reproduced photos in the world. However, this girl was found 20 years later. Here are the photos of her:   Again, her eyes... they can tell how her story continued. Unfortunately, they lost the sharp boldness, intensity and wild nature.
Wise art qoutes
- "Criticism is easy, art is difficult." - Detouches [Philippe Nericault] (1680-1754) French. Le Glorieux, 1732.
- "Only through art can we get outside of ourselves and know another's view of the universe which is not the same as ours and see landscapes which would otherwise have remained unknown to us like the landscapes of the moon. Thanks to art, instead of seeing a single world, our own, we see it multiply until we have before us as many worlds as there are original artists ." - Marcel Proust (1871-1922) French writer. The Maxims of Marcel Proust, translated by Justin O'Brien, published 1948.
- "Surely all art is the result of one's having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go any further." - Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), German poet. Letter, June 24, 1907, to his wife (published in Rilke's Letters on Cézanne, 1952; translated 1985).
What is this Art Fusion about...
After September 11, the entire world became interested in the Middle East. Suddenly, what we knew before is not enough, we want to explore the problem deeper and understand the reasons. I believe that the best way to explore any culture, nation and its traditions is through art. Art helps us to see the problems a nation faces, the way a nation sees and solves them. As they say, at some point any artist becomes politically orientated and his works start to have political messages. I undertake a rather interesting, yet challenging assignment: to explore the culture of the Middle East, art in particular. I would write about artist from the Middle East or artist creating their works on the issues concerning the Middle East. Fiction, documentary, books, photography, cinema... Just tune in, if you are interested!
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