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School of Politics and International Relations

Middle East Movie Night 3 - Turtles Can Fly

20 November 2013

Time: 6:00pm
Venue: The Hitchcock Cinema, ArtsOne Room, G.19

“The first film to be made in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the devastating Turtles Can Fly is set in a Kurdish refugee camp on the Iraqi-Turkish border just before the US invasion in spring 2003. Director Bahman Ghobadi concentrates on a handful of orphaned children and their efforts to survive the appalling conditions: there's the entrepreneurial Satellite, the armless clairvoyant Henkov, and his traumatised sister Agrin, who herself is responsible for a blind toddler. Dedicated according to the Kurdish Ghobadi "to all the innocent children in the world - the casualties of the policies of dictators and fascists", Turtles Can Fly vividly immerses the viewer in the nightmarish realities of daily existence in this makeshift community that's located within a forbidding natural landscape.” (BBC review)

Register for this event. 

Middle East Movie Nights offer students and other members of the university the chance to learn more about the region, its society and politics, through the medium of film. Many countries in the Middle East boast rich and diverse cinema industries with film makers willing to tackle controversial topics often ignored or side-lined by politicians and public figures. Through a series of films shown during the 2013-14 academic year key issues that affect the region today will be explored, including women’s rights, political Islam, revolution, sexuality, nationalism, poverty and class. With movies from Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Iran, among others, this series aims to both educate and entertain in equal measure.

Please note - there is limited seating in the cinema so if you have registered and are unable to join us, please email Helen Blockley to allow someone else to attend.

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