Official Selection

Niwemang / Half Moon

Half Moon

Mamo, an old, renowned musician, has been granted permission to give a concert in Iraqi Kurdistan. His faithful friend Kako will drive a school bus and help collect Mamo's ten musical sons from all over Iranian Kurdistan. The old Kurdish musician has waited 35 years for the chance to perform again in Iraqi Kurdistan and ignores his son's premonition that something awful awaits him before the next full moon. On the other hand, he also has to persuade Hesho, a singer who lives in a mountain retreat with 1,334 other exiled female singers, to go with them. Given that women are forbidden to sing in front of men in public in Iran, Hesho must be carefully concealed in the bus. The journey of Mamo and his musical group is not without difficulties, but Mamo's persistence guides everyone towards adventure, emotion and magic.

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Bahman Ghobadi Winner of the Golden Shell for Best Film with Turtles Can Fly at San Sebastian in 2004, Bahman Ghobadi was born in Baneh (Iranian Kurdistan), in 1969. He studied cinema in Teheran. From 1995 until 1999 he made around 12 shorts, winners of awards at national and international festivals. His first feature film, A Time for Drunken Horses (2002), was presented at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes, winning the Caméra d'Or and FIPRESCI Award. Songs of My Motherland (2002), his second film, was also presented at Cannes (in Un Certain Regard) and won a prize at Chicago.

 

Niwemang / Half Moon   DIRECTOR Bahman Ghobadi SCREENPLAY Bahman Ghobadi PRODUCTION Bahman Ghobadi MIJ Film Nº 1B, Sarve Alley, Valiasr Ave 1968958483 Tehran Tel/Fax 9821 8888 6072 info@mijfilm.com CO-PRODUCTION Silkroad Production (Paris) New Crowned Hope (Vienna) Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq PHOTOGRAPHY Nigel Block, Crighton Bone EDITION Hayedeh Safiyari MUSIC Hossein Alizadeh CAST Ismail Ghaffari, Allah Morad Rashtiani, Hedye Tehrani, Golshifteh Farahani, Hassan Poorshirazi SALES The Match Factory GmbH Sudermanplatz 2 D-50670 Köln Tel 49 221 292 102-0 Fax 49 221 292 102-10 info@matchfactory.de RUNNING TIME 107 m. COUNTRY Iran - Irak - Austria - France