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Political Cinema

Sunday October 29, 2006,

at 6:30 PM

Special Guests: Dr. Kamran Brookhim,
Dr. Ali Kiafar,
Dr. Jahan and Dr. Zaman Stanizai

The Predator
(In English - 28 Minutes)

A Short Thriller by Mitra Tabrizian

A hit man from an unknown Islamic country is sent to London to assassinate an influential writer who has sought political asylum in Britain. The film focuses on the unusual encounter between the two men; a writer who has given up his life’s work and has lost belief in any political intervention, and a loyal soldier who is loosing his loyalty. The hunter & the hunted with one thing in common; they have nothing to lose!
The story is told mainly from the hit man’s point - of – view;
a man who can not forget his past.

director’s statement
The film focuses on a fictional Islamic country. The actual cast comes from different Islamic countries: Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon & Morocco. The intention here is to indicate how, metaphorically speaking, fundamentalism has created its own state, with English paradoxically as the only common language! Different Islamic countries speak in different languages & often have to use English to communicate.
So the film’s use of English language is an ironic commentary on this reality - & on the notion of ‘authenticity’ (a film or a nation cannot be ‘authentic’ unless they express themselves in their original language) that both the East & the West seem to perpetuate.

mitra tabrizian is a photographer who has made three short films, currently
working on a feature script. She has published & exhibited widely & in major
international museums & galleries. She lives & works in London.

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Paradise Now

“A heart-stopping story whose urgency is startling”
Kenneth Turan, LA Times
“The years’s most insightful and unvarnished look at the motivation of terrorism”
John Anderson, NEWSDAY

A film by:
Hany Abu-Assad
Winner of Golden Globe
Best Foreign Film 2005

Said and Khaled are walking bombs. With explosive strapped to their bodies, the two young Palestinians slip into Israel, planning a suicide mission in Tel Aviv. Can anything or anyone change their mind? Paradise Now, sweeping ly powerful, and intricately detailed, highly acclaimed and widely controversial – tells the story of these two lifelong friends and their mission of doom.
Hany Abu-assad (the award-winning Rana’s Wedding) directs, shooting this harrowing thriller in locations made equally harrowing by real-life missile attacks, exploding land mines, suspicious Palestinian factions and Israeli occupied forces, and the kidnapping of a crew member. The result is a film that knows its topic up close and provides no easy answers. Instead, Paradise Now lays bare the humanity and the horror for all to see, to ponder … and perhaps to change.

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