A team of film experts (among them also British director Ben Robinson who appeared in a previous Diabolik-al post on this blog) is a present putting the final touches to the programme of the Tribeca Film Festival in Doha, Qatar.
Modelled on the New York City Tribeca Festival, the event promises to be rather exciting since it will offer the chance of seeing films by both established and debuting directors and it will help building cultural bridges between different cultures.
On the festival site you will find an interesting list of TFF films from the region that will allow cinema lovers to be introduced to various themes, directors and actors.
My favourite film from this list is Maryam Khakipour's Siah Bâzi: The Joy Makers (2005).
Some of you may remember it since it was premiered in North America at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
When this film came out it actually made me think about the political situation in Italy and how, just a few years before Khakipour's film was released, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi banned from the State TV all the comedians who made fun of him. In a way, despite the film told a story that happened in another country, I felt I could somehow relate to it.
Siah Bâzi is the name for a traditional Iranian performance. Its players usually performed in people’s homes so that in this way they could satirise any kind of government. Yet the troupe on which Khakipour’s documentary is based worked in Tehran's Nasr Theater.
Siah Bâzi actors usually play different characters, who are somehow similar to the characters from the Italian Commedia dell’Arte. They are dressed in bright costumes, sport heavy make up rather than masks and play well defined roles.
One of these actors is called “The Black” for example and acts a little bit like his Italian counterpart, prankster servant Harlequin. "The Black" comments upon society and makes a satire of the political situation in Iran, representing in a way ordinary people (you can see a very short clip featuring "The Black" here).
In Khakipour's film when the Iranian government orders to shut the theatre, the members of the Nasr Theater company find themselves wondering what will happen to them – careers as cab and truck drivers or tea servers are looming in – and to their country.
The film is even more relevant in the current political climate in Iran, but it also makes viewers ponder a bit about irony, humour and satire in their own countries and about how different political powers tried to kill them for their own sake.
The Doha Tribeca Film festival will take place from 29th October to 1st November 2009 and be presented at Doha’s new Museum of Islamic Art and in cinemas across Doha.
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