Play Reviews
BAB EL SHAMS
Written by Elias Khoury
Directed by Najib Ghallale Makram Khoury
This novel could not have seen the light without the
hands of the tens of women and men in the refugee camps f Burge al Barajneh,Shatilla,Mar
Elias and Ein el Helweh (all in Lebanon).They opened widely the doors of
their memoires and their dreams to me.
RAMZI ABUL-MAJD
Written by George Ibrahim
Directed by Mohammad Bakri
Ahmad Abu Saloum,Hussam Abu Aisheh
What is human?What is an identity? Two Palestinians are
from Jaffa.The first carries a fine touch of Israelism in his personality
and has never departed from his homeland,whilethe other carries a keen
touch of sorrow and lives in Gaza since the Diaspora of 1948.The first
holds a blue identity card enabling him to freely move around,while the
second has a red one that keeps creating trouble for him.
Two Palestinians are separated by "color" discrimination
enforced by the Israeli government.A play from Athol Fugards,"Sizwe Banzi
is Dead". Winner for best actor (Ahmed Abu Saloum)at the 7th Festival for
Cartage Theatre Days,Tunis,1995.
ABU MARMAR
Written by Mohammad Bakri,Khaled Hourani
Directed by (Team work)
Mohammad Bakri Monodrama …Panorama,a wilder view through
the prisoner's iron bars,as he looks down upon a space which gets wider
and narrower each time he yearned to life.
AL ZEIR SALEM
Written by George Ibrahim
Directed by Mohammad Khomais
Lana Haj Yahia,Husam Abu Aisheh,Khaled Al Masu, Khalifa
Natour,Kamel Al Basha,Taher Najeeb, Mahmoud Awad,Ibrahim Oleiwat,Ruba Bilal,
Georgina Asfour,Jamil Al Sayyih,Nizar Zu'bi,Hiba Subhi,Areen Abedi,Suha
Qarain,Bashar Da'as, Imad Farragin.
We found Al Zeir Salem to be the best of dreams:an epic
still living in the Palestinian collective memory, with a special flavor.A
total of 17 actors and actresses in addition to the director,Mohammad Khomais,add
a touch of magic to the epic. We used the text of Alfred Farage,written
for theatre, and the original epic,as well as the conscience of the famous
poet,Amal Dankel,to re-interpret the epic in a new way.The result is a
work full of the details f life,of artistic extremism,music,madness and
magic.
Film Reviews
ARLINGTON ROAD
Directed by Mark Pellington
Tim Robbins,Jeff Bridges,Joan Cusak
1998 USA (English)
Arlington Road is an intense,edge-of-your-seat thriller
that reveals just how little we know about the world around us.Widowed
when his FBI agent wife is killed by a right-wing group,college professor
Michael Faraday becomes obsessed with the culture of these groups -especially
when his new neighbors,the all American Oliver and Cheryl Lang start acting
suspiciously.With each twist the mystery deepens and the question looms
-Is Faraday just consumed by fear and paranoia, or has a lethal conspiracy
been born on Arlington Road? Popular Arts Center,12,18,24,30 October.
AS GOOD AS IT GETS
Directed by James Brooks
Jack Nicholson,Helen Hund,Greg Kinear
1997 USA (English)
A comedy from the heart that goes for the throat. Melvin
Udall is the most dysfunctional of men,an acid tongued novelist who suffers
from obsessive- compulsive-disorder. 19:30 Al Kasaba,1,3,4 October
AUSTIN POWERS II: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME
Directed by Jay Roach
Mike Myers,Hether Graham
1999 England,USA (English)
Austin Powers is Back,Baby!Mike Myers returns in this
blockbuster sequel as the British secret agent that thwarts international
madmen and shags beautiful women like mad,man!But is arch-enemy, the powerful
and bizarre Dr.Evil,is planning to hold the world hostage for a large ransom.Only
Austin can save the day in this hilariously hip James Bond spoof …Very
groovy … Popular Arts Center,2,7,13,19,25,31 October.
BREAD OF THOSE EARLY YEARS
Directed by Herbert Vesely
1962 Germany
Based on the novel of the same title by Heinrich Boll.The
young electrician Walter Fendrich has started a promising career.Everything
seems to be on the right track.As the future husband of his employer's
daughter Walter even can hope to once succeed him as head of the company.All
of a sudden,the visit of a girl from his hometown,whom he last saw seven
years ago,changes his entire life.Walter realizes that his entire life
so far has been all-wrong.He breaks out f his former "reasonable"life and
gives up the wonderful security of the affluent society.He simply disappears
without a farewell or explanation.A film that expresses the German intellectual
concerns of the early sixties:criticism of the petrified conditions in
the society of the economic miracle and the search for new forms of expression,life
and thought. Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center,19:00,23 October.
ERIN BROCKOVICH
Directed by Stephen Soderbergh
Julia Roberts,Albert Finney
2000 USA (English)
Broke and desperate,the twice-divorced single mom Erin
bosses her way into a clerical job with attorney Ed Masry,who's indebted
to Erin after failing to win her traffic-injury case.Erin is soon focused
on suspicious connections between a mighty power company,its abuse of toxic
chromium,and the poisoned water supply of Hinkley,California,where locals
have Erin Brockovich suffered a legacy of death and disease.The factual
basis adds a boost f satisfaction,proving that greed,neglect and corporate
arrogance are no match against a passionate crusader. Popular Arts Center,2,9,14,20,26,29.
GERMAN CONTEMPORARY DANCE FILM
Video screenings of outstanding dance productions
from the years 1998-2000.
This body of work is produced by the German Film Institute,Bremen
and the Goethe Institute,and will involve short introductions by visiting
Choreographer Claudia Lehmann.A unique overview of the latest developments
in dance, highlighting the most important German artists, dance academies
and companies.(Presented in co-operation with the Goethe Institute,Ramallah).
Popular Arts Center,1 October.
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
Directed By Roberto Benigni
Roberto Benigni,Nicoletta Braschi
1999 Italy (Italian/English sub)
Extraordinary film by Italian comedy star and filmmaker
Benigni,about an irrepressible spirit who refuses to ever give in to adversity,even
when he is taken to a concentration camp with his wife and young son.He
determines that the boy will be shielded from the horrors around them—and
somehow finds a way to do it.A unique and beguiling fable that celebrates
the human spirit. Academy awards for Best Actor and Best Foreign Film,and
Grand Jury prizewinner at the Cannes Film Festival.Don't miss it. Popular
Arts Center,2,7,13,15,19,25,31.
LOST HONOR OF KATHARINA BLUM
Directed by Volker Schlondorff
1975 Germany
Based on the novel of the same title by Heinrich Boll.The
divorced housemaid Katharina Blum meets a young man at a carnival ball
and takes him home with her -not knowing that he is wanted by the police
as a terrorist.At the next morning,a police squad appears and searches
her flat. Suspected as a terrorist sympathizer,Katharina becomes the victim
of terror created through the frighteningly rapid interplay between police,
judiciary and the sensationalist press.During humiliating cross-examinations
it becomes clear that two different worlds meet:the morality f the judiciary,blinded
by office,is confronted with the totally different morality of an individual
fighting for her honor.During the plot,Katharina undergoes a thorough transformation:the
incomprehension with which she responded to the first police actions gradually
gives way to a feeling of indignation until she finally responds with despairing
violence.This was Boll's most controversial book criticizing strongly the
way "how violence is created and where it may lead." Khalil Sakakini Cultural
Center,19:00,25 October.
MICKEY BLUE EYES
Directed by Kelly Makin Hugh Grant,James Caan,Jeanne
Tripplehorn
1999 USA (English)
Michael Felgate is an Englishman working in a prestigious
auction house in New York.When he meets Gina Vitale,a school teacher from
Queens, he realizes that this is the greatest love of his life and wants
to marry her.However,Gina's father is a prominent member of New York's
Graziosi gangster family,and want to recruit any possible husband's of
Gina's into the mafia.T both win the woman he loves and not get involved
in organised crime,Michael Felgate embarks on a hilarious charade,becoming
the notorious "Mickey Blue Eyes". Popular Arts Center,5,8,11,17,23,28 October.
RUN LOLA RUN
Directed by Tom Tykwer
Franka Potente,Moritz Bleibtreu
1999 Germany (German/English sub)
This is the story f young Lola and her boyfriend Manni.In
the space of 20 minutes,they must come up with 100,000 deutsche marks to
pay back a seedy gangster.But just when you think you've figured out the
movie,the director introduces a series of brilliant existential twists
that boggle the mind.Accompanied by a pulse-pounding soundtrack,we follow
Lola through every turn and every heartbreak as she and Manni rush forward
on a collision course with fate. Popular Arts Center,3,9,14,20,26 October.
STRICTLY BALLROOM
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
Paul Mercurio,Tara Morice,Barry Otto
1992 Australia (English)
Without doubt the greatest dance film of recent times.This
oddball romantic comedy from Australia is a visual masterpiece,bringing
back the energy and humour f the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals.Set in
the highly competitive world of ballroom dancing,this modern fairy tale
will have you laughing,leaping,and wanting to dance all night. Popular
Arts Center,4,10,16,21,27 October.
THE BEACH
Directed by Danny Boyle
Leonardo Di Caprio,Robert Carlysle,Tilda Swinton,
2000 Thailand (English)
In this adrenaline-drenched,tantalizingly seductive thriller,Richard
(a young American backpacker)is willing to risk his life for just one thing:that
mind- blowing rush you can only get from braving the ultimate adventure.But
on a secret,deceptively perfect beach,Richard will discover that "heaven
on earth"can instantly change into a jungle of seduction and danger. Popular
Arts Center,6,12,18,22,24,30 October.
THE BONE COLLECTOR
Directed by Phillip Noyce,Dean Semler
Denzel Washington,Angelina Jolie,Queen Latifah, Ed O'Neil,Zena
Grey
1999 USA (English)
Washington is Lincoln Rhyme,a successful police fficer
and author of crime novels.After a freak accident on the job,Rhyme is left
paralyzed from the neck down (except for his index finger).Jolie is Amelia
Donaghy,a troubled cop who finds herself caught up in the investigation
of a brutal serial killer. With the help of the bed-ridden Rhyme,she enters
a dangerous world that threatens to add her to the killer's list. 19:30
Al Kasaba,5,6,10,11,12 October
THE MATRIX
Directed by Andy Wachowski,Larry Wachowski, Bill Pope
Keanu Reeves,Laurence Fishburne,Carrie-Anne Moss
1999 USA (English)
An imaginative hybrid of action,Kung fu,and science fiction,The
Matrix is a hyper-kinetic,mind- bending and visionary spectacle.Keanu Reeves
stars as Neo,a disaffected computer hacker seeking the answer to the question:"What
is the Matrix?"His search leads him to the elusive Morpheus (Laurence Fishbune),who
begins to enlighten Neo about the illusions of his so-called reality.In
accepting the answer Morpheus provides, Neo is hurled into a futuristic
world where old realities are shattered,and he must fight for his life,and
the future of humanity against a dangerous group of inhuman government
agents. 19:30 Al Kasaba,21,22,24-26,31 October
THE SIXTH SENSE
Directed by M.Night Shyamalan
Bruce Willis,Haley Joel Osment,Toni Colette.
2000 USA (English)
Nominated for two Academy Awards including Best Film,This
is the fright-film of the decade.An exceptional thriller about a dedicated
child psychologist who faces his greatest challenge in reaching and understanding
a young boy who spends his life paralyzed by fear,because he lives in a
world of ghosts.Young Osment is extraordinarily good opposite a strong
silent Bruce Willis;the film is sinous and creepy without resorting to
gore. Popular Arts Center,1,4,10,16,21,27 October.
THE TRUMAN SHOW
Directed by Peter Weir
Jim Carey,Ed Harris,Laura Linney
1998 USA (English)
He's the star of the show-but he doesn't know.Jim Carey
wowed critics and audiences alike as the unwitting Truman Burbank in this
marvel f a movie from director Peter Weir (Witness,Dead Poets Society)about
a man whose life is a non-stop TV show.Truman doesn't realize that his
quaint hometown is a giant studio set run by a visionary producer/director/creator
(Ed Harris),that folks living and working there are Hollywood actors,that
even his incessant,bubbly wife is a contract player. Gradually,Truman gets
wise.And what he does about his discovery will have you laughing,crying
and cheering like few film stories ever have. Popular Arts Center,5,11,17,23,28
October.
NEW SHORT ARABIC FILMS
JAMAL:A STORY OF COURAGE
Following a closed screening (invitation only)for the
premier of Jamal:A Story of Courage in the presence of the director,this
film will be screened again for the public on Sunday the 15th at 6:30pm,
with two new Arabic shorts (English subtitles). Popular Arts Center,6 (invitation
only),15 October.
THE SHADOW OF TIMES
THE SHADOW
CLASSIC FAVORITE ARABIC FILMS
DATE WINE
Directed by Radwan El-Kashef
1999 Egypt (Arabic/English sub) A searing drama that
focuses on an Egyptian
village. Popular Arts Center,22 October.
THE BROKEN WINGS
Directed by Yousef Malouf
B&W Lebanon (Arabic/English sub) Khalil Gibran's
classic true tale of lost love. Popular Arts Center,8 October.
THE THIEF AND THE DOGS
Directed by Kamal El-Sheikh
B&W Egypt (Arabic)
Based on the popular story by the Egyptian author
Najeeb Mahfouth. Popular Arts Center,29 October.