film screening
Half Moon, 2006
by Bahman Ghobadi

Tuesday 20 April 2010

2006 | 113 min. | Kurdish/Farsi with English subtitles

Mamo, an old and legendary Kurdish musician living in Iran, plans to give one final Performance in Iraqi Kurdistan. After seven months of trying to get a permit and rounding up his ten sons, he sets out for the long and troublesome journey in a derelict bus, denying a recurring vision of his own death at half moon. Halfway the party halts at a small village to pick up female singer Hesho, which will only add to the difficulty of the undertaking, as it is forbidden for Iranian women to sing in public, let alone in the company of men. A majestic landscape and a sense of premonition pervade a journey informed by experiences of oppression, adventure and the transcendent power of music, and set against the backdrop of Saddam Hussein’s fall from power.