In the Month of Love and Longing
LOVE ME YOU
Director: Sylvie Banuls and Sabina Engel
92 mins / 2003 / Germany
16th February, 2007 (Friday) at 6.30pm
SEARCH FOR FREEDOM
Director: Munizae Jahangir
54 mins / 2003 / Pakistan
17th February, 2007 (Saturday) at 6.30pm
PATHER CHUJAERI (The Play Is On…)
Director: Pankaj Rishi Kumar
44 mins / India
18th February, 2007 (Sunday) at 6.30pm
About LOVE ME YOU
Love Me You is a film about some very special actors in an extraordinary theater and about the unusual love between two of them: Moritz and Nele. They both have Down’s syndrome and both act in productions of the Ramba Zamba Theater in Berlin – frequently playing to full houses. The film sheds light on a world which most “normal” people tend to regard as substandard. Despite the international trend of global assimilation and homogenous lifestyles, the film reveals life without the filters of society and its rules: one which is not only different, but also uniquely special and full of color. Against the backdrop of the bio-ethics debate, the film shows people who are assumed to be far removed from the norm, yet nonetheless manage to live a rich and whole-hearted life – wonderfully free from the constraints of social conventions.
About SEARCH FOR FREEDOM
The film traces the dramatic social and political history of Afghanistan from the 1920s to thepresent through the stories of four remarkable women: Princess Shafiqa Saroj, sister of the beloved progressive King Amanullah (1919-1929); Mairman Parveen, the first woman to sing on Afghan radio; Moshina, a war widow and survivor of a Taliban massacre; and Sohaila, an exiled medical student who ran underground schools for RAWA (Revolutionary Association of Afghan Women) during the Taliban regime. Through their personal stories, a surprising portrait of Afghanistan’s history emerges. Stunning archival footage from the early 20th century captures a time of remarkable freedom for women that belies most Western perceptions. Other historical footage reveals women’s realities and resilience under near constant occupation, starts with the Soviet invasion, then under the mujahadeen and more recently under the repressive Taliban. Defying the image of Afghan women as mere victims, Search for Freedom offers a nuanced portrait of women who find choices where none are offered and who continue to find hope in the face of exile and isolation.
About PATHER CHUJAERI
How does art survive in a regime of fear? I first encountered this question in 1999, while taking photographs of Kashmir during that mindless war with Pakistan. That summer, I established contact with the National Bhand Theatre, Wathora, and the Bhagat Theatre, Akingam, two groups that were still performing in the traditional pather form of satire. I returned twice in 2001, now armed with a camera. I was encouraged by what I found: an illiterate community has sustained a centuries-old tradition in the face of debilitating social and cultural changes. Although perennially intimidated by the corruption, violence and intolerance that prevail in Kashmir, the bhands are still affirming a commitment to their theatre, to the critical potential of its form and the liberating joys of performance. Faith in Sufism has tempered their enthusiasm for satire and they identify with the collective voices of Kashmir’s freedom.The Play is on…. follows the two groups as they prepare for public performances, a rare phenomenon today. For the bhands, who daily witness the erosion of their way of life, each performance represents both a change as well as a repetition of the same brutal fact: that they are not free to share their revolutionary spirit.
