Events

Fierce Earth Ltd

Mirage Film Festival

23 - 26 February 2006

Venue: Various venues

Mirage Film Festival

Like optical illusions shimmering in the desert, the Mirage festival displays beautiful scenes to entice both the eye and imagination. But whereas mirages disappear under close scrutiny, the films showing between 23rd and 26th February have plenty of substance. Focusing on emergent international film-making talent with particular emphasis on the Far and Middle East, Mirage looks beyond the stereotypes that divide cultures through a three-tier programme.

1. Prophetic Journeys – films which travel deep into the Middle East.
2. X-Ray – films which cut through the ‘fog of war’ and mainstream news to expose the truth about the conflict in Iraq.
3. Rage – films from artists in Japan and South Korea who transform one of the most potent human emotions into stylised choreography.

The original Arabic word which is the root of ‘mirage’ alluded to the Prophet’s journey to paradise. We hope that – in a more earthly sense – our programme also presents a more enlightened perspective on the world.

Tasawar Bashir, Festival Curator

Plus: Cub Night for the Mirage Weekend
Friday 24th February: 10pm-4am Shaanti’s 7th Birthday Party in the Medicine Bar Featuring Badmarsh and Shri and Swami LIVE. And at the Kitchen, its Galaxy FM’s Sacha Brooks and Rich Reason. All mixed in with Manga visuals from Mirage.

X-Ray

The Power Of Nightmares
British documentary-maker Adam Curtis’ series of films shows how paranoia has been fomented by those that dominate political discourse in the 21st century. With archive footage and interviews covering over 50 years from 1949 to 2004 ‘The Power Of Nightmares’ demonstrates how two groups often presented as ideological polar opposites – Western neo-conservatives and radical Islamists – are in fact remarkably similar, relying on fear of the unknown and imaginary threats to established ways of life.

Directed by Adam Curtis
Country: UK
Year of Production: 2004
Running Time: 180 minutes
Date: Sun 26 February
Tine: 2.00pm
Venue: Tipton Muslim Centre
Box Office: 0121 244 8084
Tickets: £2.50

The Control Room
Award-winning Arab director Jehane Noujaim’s ‘Control Room’ offers a glimpse into the world and politics of the Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera which some have branded ‘Bin-Laden’s mouthpiece.’ Filmed from the beginning of the second war in Iraq through to 2004, Noujaim’s documentary asks emotive questions with clear-headed detachment, discussing such issues as Al-Jazeera’s decision to broadcast footage of American casualties and POWs as well as the conflict between free speech and fundamentalism.

Directed by Jehane Noujaim
Country: USA
Year of Production: 2004
Running Time: 86 minutes
Date: Sat 25 February
Tine: 2.00pm
Venue: Tipton Muslim Centre
Box Office: 0121 244 8084
Tickets: £2.50

Rage – The Vengeance Trilogy and Godzilla

Old Boy
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes – ‘Old Boy’ was the film which brought South Korean director Chan-Wook Park to international prominence. Choi Min-Sik plays Oh Dae-Su, a businessman imprisoned by gangsters for 15 years who sets out to take bloody revenge when he is eventually released. But has he truly escaped their clutches or does he remain a pawn in some diabolical game? Both frenetic and balletic, Chan-Wook Park’s direction arguably makes violence into an artform in a way not even his Western equivalents such as Tarantino or Peckinpah quite managed to achieve.

Directed by Chan-wook Park
Country: South Korea
Year of Production: 2003
Running Time: 120 min
Date: Thursday 23 February
Time: 9.00pm
Venue: The Bedroom, Chi Bar
Box Office: 0121 244 8080
Tickets: FREE

Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance
‘Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance’ first honed South Korean director Chan-Wook Park’s trademark style which he would develop throughout the later films in his ‘vengeance trilogy’ – depicting an amoral universe with an unflinching gaze. At it’s core is the deaf character of Ryu (Shin Ha-Kyu) who – when cheated out of his money on the black market after selling a kidney to help his sick sister – plans to kidnap his former boss’ daughter and hold her to ransom.

Directed by Chan-wook Park
Country: South Korea
Year of Production: 2002
Running Time: 129 mins
Date: Sat 25 February
Time: 10.30pm
Venue: The Electric Cinema
Box Office: 0121 643 7879
Tickets: £3/£5

Sympathy For Lady Vengeance
The third part of Chan-Wook Park’s ‘vengeance trilogy’ introduces a female character who is easily the equal of ‘Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance’s Ryu or ‘Old Boy’s Oh Dae-Su when it comes to dispatching her enemies to particularly gory ends. But Lee Guem-Ja (Lee Young-ae) is no two-dimensional ‘kick-ass’ heroine, as Chan-Wook Park builds up a powerful and multi-layered portrait of what happens when the traditional constraints of femininity are torn asunder by the desire for revenge.

Directed by Chan-wook Park
Country: South Korea
Year of Production: 2005
Running Time: 112 mins
Date: Sat 25 February
Time: 12.30am
Venue: The Electric Cinema
Box Office: 0121 643 7879
Tickets: £3/£5

Godzilla
Given its first ever release by the BFI last year to mark the 60th anniversary of the atomic bomb, this is the original uncut version of ‘Godzilla’. The tale of the 400-foot lizard which destroys Tokyo, Ishiro Honda’s 1954 classic still offers plenty of visceral thrills but also serves as a sobering reflection on man’s arrogance before nature – spawning not just numerous sequels but also the entire genre of Japanese monster movies known as ‘Kaiju-Eiga’.

Directed by Ishirô Honda
Country: Japan
Year of Production: 1954
Running Time: 98 min
Date: Sat 25 February
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Imax Cinema
Box Office: 0121 202 2222
Tickets: £5/£3

Prophetic Journeys

Le Grande Voyage
A road movie with a difference, ‘Le Grand Voyage’ has as many twists as the road to Mecca itself. The non-religious Reda (Nicolas Cazale) accompanies his staunchly Muslim father (Mohammed Majd) on his pilgrimage to Mecca from their home in France. The film is fuelled by the clash between Reda’s secular outlook on life and his father’s traditionalist Islamic principles – provoking both humour and pathos in equal measure. Written and directed by the Moroccan-born Ismael Ferroukhi, ‘Le Grand Voyage’ won ‘Best First Film’ at the 2004 Venice Film Festival.

Directed by Ismael Ferroukhi
Country: France/Morocco
Year of Production: 2004
Running Time: 108 min
Date: 26 February
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: mac
Box Office: 0870 7555657
Tickets: £3/£5

A New Day In Old Sana’a
The first feature film ever produced in Yemen, British-born film-maker Bader Ben-Hirsi ‘A New Day In Old Sana’a’ tells the story of Tariq, who discovers that the girl he is about to marry is not the wealthy upper-class woman he believed but a gypsy orphan. Taking place in the Yemenese city of Sana’a over one day, the film is both a universal love story and a deeply personal meditation on Yemenese tradition which won ‘Best Arab Film’ at the 29th International Cairo Film Festival.

Directed by Bader Ben-Hirsi
Country: Yemen
Year of Production: 2005
Running Time: 86 min
Date: Sun 26 February
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: AMC Five Ways
Box Office: 0121 643 7879
Tickets: £5/£4

Paradise Now
A powerful and provocative film, ‘Paradise Now’ focuses on the final 24 hours in the lives of two Palestinian men who are about to undertake a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Director Hany Abu-Assad’s film builds up through Said (Kais Nasheef) and Khaled’s (Ali Suliman) final farewells to their loved ones and their approach to the Israeli border. But most importantly Abu-Assad unravels the human emotions and political situation behind the simplistic stereotypes of ‘terrorists’.

Directed by Hany Abu-Asaad
Country: France/ Germany/ Netherlands/ Israel
Year of Production: 2005
Running Time: 90 min
Date: Fri 24 February
Time: 6.00pm
Venue: AMC Five Ways
Box Office: 0870 7555657
Tickets: £5/£3

Hidden (Cache)
George (Daniel Auteuil) is a TV literary critic whose family starts receiving videotapes suggesting that his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche) and their son Pierrot are being watched. As George’ anxiety rises he decides to find who’s behind this apparent threat campaign, and unearth some unwelcome secrets. This is a film to watch closely, it leaves the audience to decide what’s really at stake (its final shot caused notable debate in Cannes last year). Masterly and rigorously intelligent, Haneke continues to be one of those notable film makers you can’t afford to ignore.
Winner: Best Director, Cannes Film Festival 2005

Directed by Michael Haneke
Country: France/ Austria/ Germany/Italy
Year of Production: 2005
Running Time: 117 mins
Date: Sat 25 Feb
Time: 3.30 pm
Venue: mac
Box Office: 0121 440 3838
Tickets: £5/£3