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Summary: Welcome to the second Mirage Film Festival, many of the films presented here have received praise from both audiences and critics from all corners of the world.

More Information: http://www.miragefilmfestival.com

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WELCOME TO THE SECOND MIRAGE FILM FESTIVAL


Many of the films presented here have received praise from both audiences and critics from all corners of the world.

This is a pivotal time for Arab cinema; from across North Africa, the Middle East and Iran many new film festivals have sprung up as film industries ride something of a new wave. The West’s daily news coverage from Baghdad, Beirut, Ramallah and Tehran often fragments the personal dimension of human suffering and tragedy. In direct response, post 9/11 film-makers, driven by a new urgency to tell their stories are arguably making some of the best cinema in the world.


Many films selected for this festival are made by non-professional actors promoting a school of film-making that aims to lend each frame an immediacy and conviction that will, it is hoped, overcome the abstracting effect of the news camera, in order to magically make their stories real again.

The screenings are taking place at mac, The Drum and The Baboush Centre in Moseley. Please come along with an open and questioning mind.
Tasawar Bashir, Festival Curator

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OFFSIDE


Jafar Panahi’s vibrant, funny and touching film sees a group of soccer-mad Tehran girls use every trick that they know to gain access to the Azadi stadium in Tehran to watch the World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain. The girls, both simultaneously patriotic football fans and rebels against patriarchy, must then escape the clutches of the Vice Squad hot on their heels.

Directed • Jafar Panahi
Subtitles • English
Country • Iran
Year of Production • 2006
Running Time • 110 mins
Date • Thur 19th Apr
Venue • The Drum, 1:00pm
Box Office • 0121 333 2444
Website • www.the-drum.org.uk
Tickets • £4 / £3 concessions
Named Best Film at the Bangladesh Film Festival
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BREAKING THE SILENCE - MUSIC IN AFGHANISTAN


Breaking the Silence tells the story of the return of music to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. Their almost total banning of music is unprecedented in musical history. The film tells personal stories of how people coped, and looks at the strong Sufi culture in the country where music and Islam meet. With powerful performances, the film documents the story of music at a crucial moment in Afghanistan’s history.

Directed • Simon Broughton
Subtitles • English
Country • Afghanistan
Year of Production • 2002
Running Time • 110 mins
Date • Fri 20th Apr
Venue • mac, 6:00pm
Box Office • 0121 440 3838
Website • www.macarts.co.uk
Tickets • £4.25 / £3.25 concessions
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AHLAAM (DREAMS)


Baghdad, 2003: the US Shock and Awe assault leaves a ruined psychiatric asylum where Dr. Medhi, an accomplished physician, bravely attempts to care for the inmates. Ahlaam, a patient who witnessed the violent arrest of her fiancé on her wedding day, lives in her own dream-world amidst the chaos. Wielding an AK47 in one hand and his camera in the other, Director Al-Daradji has produced an incredible film despite the nightmarish conditions of the location, in which his crew were shot at, injured, imprisoned, kidnapped, and tortured.

Directed • Mohamed Al Daradji
Subtitles • English
Country • Iraq
Year of Production • 2005
Running Time • 110 mins
Date • Fri 20th Apr
Venue • The Drum, 8:00pm
Box Office • 0121 333 2444
Website • www.the-drum.org.uk
Tickets • £4 / £3 concessions
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CLIMATES


Dancing on the border of fiction and memoir, Climates tells of a lonely photographer in modern Istanbul and examines three seasons in the life of Isa (Ceylan himself ), a middle-aged lecturer and amateur photographer, in the months following his split from his girlfriend, Bahar (Ceylan’s wife, Ebru). The film’s changing seasons, from burning sunlight to contemplative, falling snow, each work their magic on Ceylan’s lens as the couple’s life together ends.

Directed • Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Subtitles • English
Country • Turkey/France
Year of Production • 2006
Running Time • 101 mins
Date • Fri 20th Apr
Venue • mac, 8:30pm
Box Office • 0121 440 3838
Website • www.macarts.co.uk
Tickets • £5.25 / £4.25 concessions
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SERIES OF IRANIAN SHORTS


A showing of short films highlighting the recent work of the next generation of Iranian film-makers whose works have been selected from the Documentary and Experimental Film Centre of Tehran. The screenings are followed by a forum discussion led by Sight and Sound journalist and middle-eastern film specialist Ali Jafar.

Directed • Various Directors
Subtitles • English
Country • Iran
Year of Production • 2004-06
Running Time • 120 mins + talk
Date • Sat 21st Apr
Venue • mac, 1:00pm
Box Office • 0121 440 3838
Website • www.macarts.co.uk
Tickets • £4.25 / £3.25 concessions
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HEAD ON / GEGEN DIE WAND


On Alcester Road in the heart of Moseley, Babouche evokes the atmosphere of a bohemian café from downtown Cairo. Sit back, relax and smoke a sheesha or try a ‘mocktail’ while those nice blokes from Cinephilia present Fateh Akin’s Head On, a punk-rock-trash Turkish arranged marriage love story. This film is not for the faint-hearted and really does merit its cult status. Later in the evening, award-winning DJs, Audiodakoo, promise to cook up a set they describe as Dubain-Bedu Futureshock. Nice.

Directed • Fatih Akin
Subtitles • English
Country • Germany / Turkey
Year of Production • 2004
Running Time • 121 mins
Date • Sat 21st Apr
Venue • Babouche Lounge, 8:00pm
Box Office • 0121 449 6000
Website • www.miragefilmfestival.com
Tickets • £4.00 from Cinephilia. 1.00pm - 9.30pm
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ZIDANE: A 21ST CENTURY PORTRAIT


Part sports documentary, part art installation, Gordon and Parreno’s film is a spectacular study of one of the world’s greatest ever players, Zinedine Zidane, coming to the end of his dazzling career. Through filming Real Madrid’s league match against Villareal, it presents one of the finest studies of man in the workplace, an ode to the loneliness of the athlete and the poise and resilience of the human body.

Directed • Various Directors
Subtitles • English
Country • France / Iceland
Year of Production • 2006
Running Time • 90 mins
Date • Sun 22nd Apr
Venue • mac, 3.00pm
Box Office • 0121 440 3838
Website • www.macarts.co.uk
Tickets • £4.25 / £3.25 concessions
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THE LAST DAYS OF YASSER ARAFAT


The Last Days of Yasser Arafat tells the final chapter in the story of one of the most controversial public figures of our time. Australian-Palestinian director Sherine Salama headed to Ramallah in 2003 and, after two years of trying, Salama was granted a twenty minute interview which, amazingly, turned out to be Arafat’s last. Intimate and insightful, Salama captures the turmoil and uncertainty of the great historic events as they unfold.

Directed • Sherine Salama
Subtitles • English
Country • Australian
Year of Production • 2006
Running Time • 76 mins + Talk
Date • Sunday 22nd Apr
Venue • mac, 8.00pm
Box Office • 0121 440 3838
Website • www.macarts.co.uk
Tickets • £5.25 / £4.25 concessions

POST SCREENING EVENTS


Series of Iranian Shorts
Sight and Sound journalist and middle-eastern film specialist Ali Jafar leads a forum discussion following these screenings.

Head On / Gegen Die Wand
Award-winning DJs, Audiodakoo, promise to cook up a set they describe as Dubain-Bedu Futureshock. Nice.

The Last Days of Yasser Arafat
Following the film there will be a post-screening discussion hosted by Birmingham Ramallah Twinning Initiative.


VENUE INFO


mac
Cannon Hill Park
Birmingham
B12 9QH
0121 440 3838
macarts.co.uk

Babouche Lounge
168 Alcester Road
B13 8HJ
0121 4498 866

The Drum
144 Potters Lane
Aston
Birmingham
B6 4UU
0121 333 2444
the-drum.co.uk

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