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FILM FESTIVAL
European Union film fest comes to Siskel Center

By Michael Phillips

Tribune movie critic
The dollar may not be much against the euro these days, but your dollar can buy a very impressive line-up of films offered by the Gene Siskel Film Center's 11th annual European Union Film Festival. This year's slate, running March 7 through April 3, zigzags from Slovenia to Ireland, constituting 61 features from 26 nations, many represented by EU co-productions between various countries. Stories of boundaries crossed and yearning unquenched will grace the screen, though grace itself is hard to come by in films such as the Austrian "Import Export," which paints a blackly comic, sexually explicit picture of an EU in constant economic and emotional flux.

Visit siskelfilmcenter.org, or call 312-846-2800.

'Estrellita' 2 1/2 stars (fair-good) (Slovenia; Matod Pevec, 2007) Each year the Film Center's European Union Film Festival opens with a film from the country currently heading up the EU itself. Thus we have Slovenian writer-director Pevec's well-acted if rather schematic melodrama starting things off with what might be termed a soft launch. It begins with the death of a concert violinist. His widow (Silva Cusin) and her son soon learn of the violinist's infidelities. At the funeral, a mysterious 12-year-old Bosnian immigrant turns up as a mourner. Taking its title from the nickname of the dead man's cherished instrument, "Estrellita" uses a debate over who owns the violin as a way of exploring various fragmenting relationships. The film might be more vibrant if the boy (played by Tadej Troha) weren't the sort of serenely angelic wonder who belongs more to the movies than to life. But the scenes between the boy's parents, coping with money issues and an eroding love, compensate for some of the contrivances. In Slovenian with English subtitles. 7 p.m. March 7; 3:15 p.m. March 9. --Michael Phillips

'Import Export' 3 stars (good) (Austria; Ulrich Seidl, 2007) Guaranteed to alienate as many audience members as it draws into its web, Seidl's astonishingly grungy odyssey follows the story of a nurse from Ukraine, moonlighting as a sex worker, who heads to Austria to expand her horizons. Meantime, an unemployed Vienna man and his debauched stepfather journey to another corner of the EU and find only the outer limits of their own corroded world-view. It's often painful to watch, and the scenes with the decrepit residents of a hospital ward dressed up for a macabre holiday celebration border on the exploitative (not to mention scenes with the stepfather's prostitute). But Seidl's wry, stately sense of composition is consistently well-considered, and he's getting at a sense of dislocated, blasted souls looking for a home in a way few other directors can match. In German, Russian and Slovak with English subtitles. 2:30 p.m. March 8; 6 p.m. March 11--Michael Phillips

'How to Cook Your Life' 3 stars (good) (Germany; Doris Dorrie, 2007). Once upon a time, Chef Edward Espe Brown was a real jerk. He was, according to his own recollection, arrogant and short-tempered, lacking in patience for the natural rhythms of cooking. He wanted everything done right, and he wanted it done 10 minutes ago. And then he found Zen Buddhism. Or maybe it found him--sometimes it's hard to tell. In any case, Brown and Buddhism met and fell in love, and now Brown teaches other aspiring Buddhists to cook in harmony with Zen principles: essentially, be aware of what you're putting into your body, its origins and how it feels, tastes and smells. What does it mean to prepare food for others? How do our food choices affect our surroundings? Although it occasionally threatens to take itself too seriously, on the whole this sumptuous, beautifully shot documentary, the latest from veteran German filmmaker Dorrie ("Men," "Enlightenment Guaranteed"), is as unpretentious and refreshing as the food it celebrates. In English and German with English subtitles. 5 p.m. March 8; 6 p.m. March 12.--Jessica Reaves

'Boarding Gate' one-half star (sub-poor) (France; Olivier Assayas, 2007). Oh, Olivier Assayas, if only you had quit while you were ahead. You might have sailed into early retirement on the redemptive fumes of "Clean," your bracing 2004 collaboration with Maggie Cheung. Instead, you let yourself slide into the muck, tapping the wildly untalented Asia Argento for this demeaning, nonsensical and ultimately stultifying chronicle of sad sacks who make consistently stupid choices. Unless you are absolutely desperate to watch Kim Gordon (of Sonic Youth) deliver a few lines of dialogue, there is absolutely no reason to subject yourself to this cinematic disaster. 9 p.m. March 8; 8 p.m. March 12.--Jessica Reaves

'Priceless' 3 stars (good) (France; Pierre Salvadori, 2006). French gamin Audrey Tautou stars as Irene, a mistress looking to make a permanent alliance with a man of means. She makes a professional misstep when she encounters Gad Elmaleh as Jean, a hapless dog walker/bartender at a Biarritz resort. Misreading his tuxedoed self for a younger, fitter, richer sugar-daddy model, Irene ends up dumped, and Jean abandons his job to pursue her. She teaches him the craft of paid companionship, and faux romance blossoms into real love. This comedy benefits from leads with distinctive eyes--hers saucer-sized, his hang-dog--employed to impressive effect. In French with English subtitles. 3 p.m. March 9.--Maureen M. Hart

'Kicks' 3 stars (good) (Netherlands; Albert ter Heerdt, 2007). The format owes a lot to "Crash," but this culture-clash plot line is leavened with more humor than 2005's best-picture Oscar winner. The shooting of a Moroccan immigrant by a Dutch cop prone to racist patter (if not intentions) sets off reverberations in the immigrant and native-born communities. While the victim's kick-boxer brother Said (Mimoun Oaissa) works to keep the peace among inflamed local youths (and reassesses his relationship with his blond girlfriend), a Dutch filmmaker (Roeland Fernhout) invites trouble with a crackpot idea for a film about the immigrant situation. In Dutch and Arabic with English subtitles. 2:45 p.m. March 8; 8 p.m. March 10.--Maureen M. Hart

Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune

[ 04 Mar 2008 20:02 ]


http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=45152

Baku. Turan Huseynova-APA. The Azerbaijan Cultural Days were opened in the headquarters of Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). APA reports that Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, the Director General of ISESCO, Abulfaz Garayev, Azerbaijani Minister of Culture and Tourism and the Secretary General of the Moroccan Ministry of Culture attended the inauguration.
Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri said that the Azerbaijan Cultural Days reflected an advanced form of cultural dialogue.
The Director General strongly condemned the savage Israeli aggression and called upon the international community to assume its moral and legal responsibility to deter Israel and force it to stop its aggression and to abide by the international law.
The Director General stated also: “while we celebrate the Azerbaijan Cultural Days and promote dialogue among cultures and alliance of civilizations, we are deeply saddened to see the ongoing savage aggression led by the Israeli forces against the disarmed Palestinian people in Gaza.

By Gerald A. Honigman

I’ve watched the recent Turkish invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan closely.

What I will now say I’ve largely said before, but it’s now time to reassert what I believe to be hard truths to two friends.

I cannot condemn Ankara’s decision to invade Iraqi Kurdistan anymore than I could condemn Israel’s decision to go after Arabs who target Jews from Gaza, Judea and Samaria (renamed only recently in history the “West Bank”), and so forth. I’m glad to see that, for whatever reasons, the Turks have now withdrawn.

The PKK’s refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan was an open invitation for a Turkish invasion. I’m surprised it took so long in the coming. And I wrote that in the Kurdish media itself long ago.

Having said this, there’s another hard series of truths...

Unlike the plight of one fifth of Turkey’s population who are Kurds, Israel’s Arab population (also one fifth of Israel) are the freest Arabs anywhere in the Middle East. Despite many of the latter composing a real fifth column, (siding with fellow Arabs who call for Israel’s total destruction), Arab language, culture, political rights and so forth flourish in the land of the Jews.

Perfection? No...but compared to the plight of non-Arabs in so-called “Arab ” lands--especially those whom the Arabs call “their” kilab yahud (Jew dogs), the Jews who are left (more Jews fled those lands to Israel than Arabs who fled Israel)--Israeli Arabs live in Paradise. Just ask black African Sudanese in Darfur and southern Sudan, for starters (and Copts, Kurds, Assyrians, Amazigh/Berbers, and so forth).

I was pleased to hear that the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) recently invited Turkey to hold talks to resolve differences, while the President of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, Masud Barzani, expressed readiness to contribute to finding a peaceful solution to the problem. This is not the first time they’ve extended these invitations either.

In a statement, the PKK expressed a readiness to seek a peaceful solution to the issue of Kurds in Turkey through mediation by the government of Iraq's Kurdish Region and supported the KRG’s call for establishing dialogue.

On his part, President Barzani expressed his readiness to "actively participate" in finding a peaceful solution to the PKK-Turkish problem, which he hoped would "end violence in the region and build better relations of cooperation and consolidate security and stability for our people."

On the surface, this might appear to just be just wishful thinking. But U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ statement openly addressing the need for Ankara to address the real grievances of Turkish Kurds seems to be a welcome new development. I don’t recall an American official vocalizing this as firmly prior to now.

Let’s step back again...

Over the past century in particular, after the collapse of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the wake of World War I, the Kurds were renamed Mountain Turks, had their language and culture outlawed, etc. and so forth to insure that the new, constricted Turkey which arose with Mustafa Kemal--Ataturk--would suffer no further geographical losses. Understandable, but not a just solution to the problem. After all, long before a Turk or Arab was in that vicinity, Kurds long lived there.

Turkey has been a valuable ally of America and has resisted Islamic extremism better than any other Muslim country. It also has relatively good relations with Israel...especially when its relations with neighboring Syria take a dive.

So, as with my Kurdish friends, I truly wish nothing but good for our Turkish friends as well.

But, as I’ve written often before and will repeat until it sinks in, friends should be able to disagree and still remain friends.

When Israel goes after Hamas terror masters, Ankara is quick to criticize and lecture about the need to create the Arabs’ 22nd state and second, not first, one in “Palestine”--Jordan having surfaced on some 80% of the original April 25, 1920 territory over the past century. Turkey knows full well what the Arabs’ plans are for the Jewish State, yet makes these demands anyway. But talk about the need for justice for 35 million truly stateless Kurds, and Ankara goes ballistic.

Turkey is some forty times as large as Israel geographically and eleven times larger in population.

Despite this, Ankara sees nothing wrong, after demanding the creation of the Arabs’ 22nd state, with telling Kurds--who have been massacred and subjugated in all the lands where they have lived in the new nationalist era--that they must remain forever in that stateless condition because of the potential threat independence in Iraqi Kurdistan might have to Turkey. The Turks fear the effect this will have on their own large, adjacent--and suppressed-- Kurdish population.

As we all know, the fear is well founded, and I understand it.

But if a Turkey which dwarfs Israel in size and population has reason to fear this, then what is Israel to say?

Again, one fifth of Israel is Arab...like the fifth of Turkey which is Kurd. Yet the Jews are told by virtually all--including Turks--that they must allow yet another Arab state, dedicated to their very destruction, to be set up in their backyard.

Keep in mind that whatever its flaws may be, the PKK does not seek Turkey’s destruction. The calls for independence by some largely are sired by real, unaddressed grievances--as Secretary Gates acknowledged.

Despite the potential for problems, justice does not demand that Kurds remain forever politically powerless in the nationalist age. A miniscule Israel faces worse problems regarding such things but is expected to allow for the creation of yet another rejectionist Arab state.

So, what’s to be done?

Once again repeating what I’ve written earlier, there is no doubt that the Kurds must do what the Arabs refuse to do...

Iraqi Kurdistan must show Ankara that an independent or highly autonomous Iraqi federal Kurdish region will not be a threat. Had it done so earlier, a Turkish invasion--even with Ankara eying Kurdish oil--would not have occurred or at least wouldn’t have been justified.

As President Barzani (whose late father will forever be a hero of mine) has stated above, there must be serious discussions with the PKK about what the greater good for Kurdistan will require. This means Kurdish leaders must get their own acts together as well...beyond protecting their own virtual fiefdoms--be they Talabani, Barzani, or whomever. If need be, they must use military force to subdue their own extremists.

Hopefully, it will not come to this. And nothing will be expected in this regard if the Turks don’t show that they will be willing to grant Iraqi Kurds the same right to have in one of which they expect Israel to allow Arabs to have almost two dozen of. Ankara must also seriously address the rights of Turkish Kurds as well instead of collaborating with both Syria and Iran in suppression of their respective Kurdish populations.

There is room for coexistence and cooperation if both peoples can get beyond their fears. A brighter future awaits them. Besides problems with the PKK, there are already real benefits materializing for Turks in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Both have a history of opposing Islamic extremism, though some are to be counted amongst both populations.

Kurds from Turkey, Syria, Iran, and elsewhere wanting to live in an independent Kurdish state can have in Iraqi Kurdistan what Jews have in a reborn Israel.

Like formerly truly stateless Jews, Kurds have suffered greatly because of this political powerlessness.

Again, renaming Arabs “Palestinians” (most of whom came from elsewhere) does not change the fact that Arabs have almost two dozen states--conquered from mostly non-Arab peoples. If there is a rough analogy to the Jews, it is the Kurds, not the Arabs. The Turks especially must also understand this since, besides Turkey, there are also a half dozen other Turkish states.

Both Turks and Kurds must examine each other’s needs and fears.

The future can be a promising one for both peoples.

While Arabs of different stripes blow each other apart, Turks and Kurds have mostly shown that they want no part of this sort of thing. Positive nationalism is better than negative nationalism.

Think of the possibilities which can arise if both peoples can get themselves to grant each other the humanity and respect both deserve.

Turkish Kurds must understand that the realm of the Turks will not see itself geographically split again. But this does not mean that Kurds should continue to be suppressed in Turkey. To insure Turkey’s integrity, the Turks have demanded Turkification of all who live there. This needs to be changed drastically. Imagine the outcry if Israel was doing this sort of thing to Arabs.

Ironically, Kurdish autonomy or independence in Iraqi Kurdistan has the potential to ease these very problems...under the right conditions.

Having the potential to live in a Kurdish-ruled area will give Kurds everywhere less grievance and reason to resort to violence.

Will there be risks and problems?
Of course. There is much that will be needed to be worked out. And all thirty or forty million Kurds will not fit into Iraqi Kurdistan.

But reasonable people can come up with reasonable solutions.

It’s time for both peoples to look ahead for a better future for both of their children...something Arabs who use their kids as human shields and who send them on suicide missions in pursuit of their own one-sided version of justice have proven incapable of doing.


Source: Article submitted by the author, an IHC Featured Writer

Edited by IHC staff, www.infoisrael.net

Published 5 March 2008

WAM
Published: March 01, 2008, 21:23

Abu Dhabi: Former Moroccan foreign minister Mohammad Bin Eisa has won the Shaikh Zayed Book Award for 2008 in the category of the Cultural Personality of the Year.

In a press release, Secretary-General of the Shaikh Zayed Book Award Rashid Al Uraimi said Bin Eisa has been awarded in recognition of his contributions to the cultural movement as well as for his role as a co-founder of Morocco's Aseelah Culture Season which was launched in 1978 as a forum for Arab, African and western cultural achievers and creative individuals and thinkers.

Bin Eisa will be presented a cash award of Dh1 million along with a certificate of appreciation.

Bin Eisa was born in Aseelah city, Morocco in 1937. He was Morocco's minister of culture between 1985-1992. He then became Morocco's minister of state for foreign affairs and culture between 1999-2007.

A prestigious ceremony will be held at the iconic Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi to honour winners of the second edition of the Shaikh Zayed Book Award (2007-8). The ceremony will be held on the sidelines of the upcoming Abu Dhabi International Book Fair from March 11 to 16.

Another Moroccan researcher and PhD holder won the Shaikh Zayed Book Award in the category of Young Authors for his book Future of international relations in the light of civilizations clash, which was described by the secretary-general as a remarkable contribution to Arab politics and philosophy.

The translation award went to Jordanian Fayez Al Sayagh, while the Arts Award went to Iraqi architect, Rafa Al Jaderji, and Publication and Distribution Award went to the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research.

The Libyan novelist Ebrahim Al Kowni won the Literature Award, while Huda Al Shawwa, a Kuwaiti, won the Child Literature Award.

In all, 512 candidates from 30 Arab countries contended for the second edition of the Shaikh Zayed Book Awards.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/nation/Heritage_and_Culture/10194100.html

A Moroccan tale of immigration


Anna Reguero
Staff writer



(February 25, 2008) — Only about 9 miles separate Morocco from Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar. Laila Lalami's book Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits opens with Murad, a tourist guide in Morocco, looking longingly across the distance, wondering how there could be such a divide in worlds over such a short distance. His plight is charted along with three other characters' as they take an inflatable motor boat illegally to Spain, in pursuit of a better life.

With illegal immigration a hot political issue as the presidential election approaches, Lalami's book is a topical selection for this year's Writers & Books event "If All of Rochester Read the Same Book ..." The program hosts book discussions all around Rochester starting today and ending in May, along with a series of movies made in or about Morocco. Lalami will visit in person at book readings, question-and-answer sessions and book signings at the end of March.

While the United States is the largest recipient of immigrants in the world, Spain is second. People travel across Africa to Morocco for the chance to cross over.

"It's really kind of sobering. You realize how the discourse on immigrants is strikingly similar even across these vast distances and different countries," says Lalami. But this wasn't an influence on her story.

"I wasn't writing of it at all thinking of the story in political terms," she says. "I was rather stunned after I finished the book and gave it to a friend to read and she said, 'This is a political book.'"

Her novel tells the personal lives of her characters and the emotions around their decision to immigrate. The boat trip to Spain is successful for some but not for others, who are deported to Morocco. Before telling us of their fate, Lalami backtracks to tell the story of what forced each to risk their lives, from economic strains to social and educational mishaps.

Lalami makes no decided stand on immigration but manages to humanize the issue, spotlighting the advantages as much as the disadvantages. She touches on the trend of Muslim youths turning toward conservative religion and doesn't shy away from how living in a different culture changes an individual.

"It speaks to my own ambivalence as to whether people who immigrate in that way are better off," she says. Lalami recalls she was inspired by reading stories about people taking boats to Spain and became enthralled at this because of the huge risks involved. "It's the highest risk you can take," she says.

Lalami is a native of Morocco, leaving only to pursue a master's degree in London, and finally came to the United States for her doctorate at the University of Southern California.

"I know if you had asked me 20 years ago if I'd be where I am today, I never thought I would be an immigrant," she says. "I was a student and the plan was, I was going to go to graduate school and I would come back and be a professor. ... Things don't turn out the way you expect. That's something that definitely resonates with me."

Lalami is now, in addition to being a novelist, a professor at the University of California-Riverside. Her latest book, to be published next year, The Outsider, is also set in Morocco, but this time it aims to tackle the political issue of liberalism and fake liberalism she feels is at the heart of politics in Morocco.

"I believe in fiction that doesn't shy away from the issues of the day," she says.

For a full schedule of "If All of Rochester Read the Same Book ..." events, go to www.wab.org.

AREGUERO@DemocratandChronicle.com

RABAT (AFP) — Amnesty International said Saturday it was "shocked" by a three-year jail term handed down by a Moroccan court to a man who registered a false Internet Facebook profile as King Mohammed VI's brother.

The court in Casablanca sentenced 27-year-old computer engineer Fouad Mourtada on Friday and fined him 10,000 dinar (900 euros, 1,300 dollars) for "the use of false information and usurping the identity of the prince."

"We are shocked by such a heavy verdict," said Benedicte Goderiaux, a member of an Amnesty group examining human rights issues in Morocco and Western Sahara who attended the trial.

"The sentence is disproportionate to the offence," she told AFP.

Goderiaux also expressed "concern over the trial's fairness," saying that the prosecutor and the judge each reproached Mourtada repeatedly for having "undermined the sacred integrity of the realm as represented by the prince."

If that was the basis of the verdict, Amnesty would consider him "a prisoner of opinion," she added.

According to Goderiaux, the accused and his lawyers said Mourtada had signed his statement under duress during interrogation.

"In these circumstances, this document cannot be entered into a fair trial," she stated.

The prosecutor had demanded Mourtada's punishment serve as an "example," while the defence argued its client was just having fun and that similar cases in the United States, Canada, and Europe never went to trial.

"On Facebook, you find sites (for) Sarkozy, Bush and Blair as well as sports stars and film stars without certifying that they are real," his lawyer Ali Ammar said.

Asked why he had set up a Facebook profile under the name of Prince Moulay Rachid, the king's younger brother, Mourtada had replied: "I admire him, I like him a lot and I have never caused him any wrong, it was just a joke. I am innocent."
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Copyright © 2008 AFP. All rights reserved.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/02/24/10192316.html

02/24/2008 01:13 AM | WAM

Abu Dhabi: Moroccan Dr Mohammad Sa'adi won the Shaikh Zayed Book Award (young authors) in its second edition.

Rashid Saleh Al Oraimi, Secretary-General of the award, announced the wining of Dr Sa'adi for his book Future of International Relations in the light of Civilsations' Clash.

Al Oraimi also announced that the Shaikh Zayed Development and Nation Building Award would not be issued in this second edition.

The award recently announced that the translation award went to Dr Faiz Al Sayagh, a Jordanian, while the arts award went to Iraqi architect, Rafa Al Jaderji. Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research won publication and distribution award.

The Libyan novelist Ebrahim Al Kowni, won the literature award, while Huda Al Shawa, a Kuwaiti, won the child literature award.

The international and Arab cultural circles are awaiting the announcement of the Shaikh Zayed Award for general cultural personality for year 2007-8.