The Middle Eastern Film Festival sees a total of 16 films showing at
the Filmhouse, from 31 January to 19 February, as part of Edinburgh International
Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace (MESP) and Edinburgh
Iranian Festival.
The festival's aim is to address the under-representation of Middle
Eastern cinema, and in particular Iranian cinema, in Scotland. The
Iranian strand of the Middle Eastern Film Festival 2009 will map the
changing and evolving character of Iranian cinema and offer Scottish
audiences a comprehensive snapshot of the three generations of films
and filmmakers who have shaped Iranian cinema. A wide range of
filmmaking styles and genres will be showcased, and Q&As,
masterclasses and introductions will be used to further engage
audiences.
Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality & Peace (EICSP)
was awarded £6,000 from the Audience Development Fund to support the
inaugural Middle Eastern Film Festival.
The films
The festival reintroduces some of the most significant works of the
last two decades of Iranian cinema, from auteur directors Bahran Beizai
(Bashu, the Little Stranger), Abbas Kiarostami (Where is My Friend's
House?), and Amir Naderi (The Runner) to lesser known, but
influential, female directors such as Rakhshan Bani Etemad (Nargess),
Tahmineh Milani (Two Women) and Manijeh Hekmat (Three Women). The
scourge of war is the focus of The Scent of Josephís Shirt by
Ebrahim Hatamikia, while the new generation of Iranian filmmakers is
represented with As Simple as That (Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi), Lonely
Tune of Tehran (Saman Salur) and Have You Another Apple? (Bayram Fazli).
The festival also showcases three directorial debuts, Seyfi Teomanís lyrical Turkish drama Summer Book, Lebanese filmmaker Michel Kammounís comedy Falafel, and Chadi Zeneddine's surreal journey through war-torn Beirut, Falling from Earth.