September
27
Not an Iraq Movie! The Kingdom Opening Sequence
It's an odd choice as a marketing ploy. But Universal has posted the opening sequence for The Kingdom, which is basically a quickie history lesson on the U.S. relationship to Saudi Arabia worthy of Syriana, on Yahoo. Newsweek's David Ansen didn't like the movie as much as I did. While he isn't yet in the class of his producer, Michael Mann, Peter Berg is shaping up to be a damned fine director.
It is almost risible how much studio marketing departments are trying to distance themselves from the Iraq movie label--because based on the poor showings of Home of the Brave, A Mighty Heart and In the Valley of Elah, the media has jumped all over the "Iraq War genre" as a failure. (I have been interviewed at least four times on this topic.)
Thus, The Kingdom is an actioner set in Saudi Arabia, Lions for Lambs is a thought-provoking examination of war, from Vietnam to Iraq, Grace is Gone, Stop Loss and In the Valley of Elah deal with the war's aftermath in the U.S., and The Kite Runner is firmly placed in Afghanistan. As for Redacted, Brian DePalma's politically-charged anti-Iraq diatribe, there's no way to distance that movie. It is what it is.
As an example of current trends, Columbia put Richard Clarke's Against All Enemies in turnaround, partly because of its Iraq war subject matter, even though it's an All the President's Men-style investigation of the inner workings of Washington--in fact producer John Calley is hoping to reunite with Robert Redford as director, and CAA is helping him to raise financing via Capitol Films.
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I just wanted to let you know of a ground breaking new anti-war film that is opening this weekend in London.
We need all the help we can to get this film out there and seen.
IRAQ 'S POST-SADDAM FEATURE AHLAAM TO BE RELEASED IN CINEMAS ACROSS THE UK FROM 2ND NOVEMBER 2007.
AHLAAM (Dream, Mohamed Al-Daradji, UK/Iraq/Netherlands, 2006)
Based on true stories, Ahlaam takes us on an incredible journey, following two psychiatric patients, who escape from their mental institution in Baghdad, and a young doctor on the night US forces start their 'shock and awe' campaign to "liberate" Iraq from Saddam Hussein's totalitarian regime.
Ahlaam is Iraq's second post-Saddam feature to hit the big screen. Al-Daradji's debut feature was filmed under highly unstable conditions, with cast and crew encountering not only all kinds of technical restrictions, but being exposed to shooting, abductions, torture and imprisonment, both by insurgents and the American forces.
After attending over 75 festivals around the world and winning many respected awards, the film was selected for consideration for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards 2007 and screened to an attentive audience at the BAFTA .
For security reasons, Al-Daradji had been unable to screen the film in Baghdad. His dream to show it to his own people came true last April, with a screening at the National Theatre to over one thousand people, including cast and crew, members of Iraq's beleaguered artistic community and government officials. They braved fears of terror attacks to attend and midway through the showing, a rumour that a minibus with explosives had been parked nearby swept the theatre. Luckily it was a false alarm. On the day of the screening, over 200 people were killed in Baghdad by insurgent attacks.
Ahlaam will be screened in much safer circumstances in the UK starting from Friday 2 November at the ICA London when a special Q&A will be held. Film is being released through Human Film and will tour around the country.
Other screenings…
HAWKHURST
KINO
7
02-Nov-07
BRADFORD
PICTUREVILLE
7
23-Nov-07
CHICHESTER
NEW PARK
2
01-Dec-07
ABERYSTWYTH
ARTS CENTRE
3
08-Dec-07
INVERNESS
EDEN COURT
2
20-Feb-08
Edinburgh Filmhouse – Edinburgh for 4 days from 7th December with Q&A
For further information on Ahlaam, please visit www.ahlaamthemovie.com or www.humanfilm.co.uk www.myspace.com/ahlaamthemovie or to view the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN7wAgQlsbk
Posted by: Iwan | October 30, 2007 at 06:42 AM