Bahman Ghobadi
Bahman Ghobadi has become one of the world's most promising and interesting directors with only three feature films. The Kurdish Iranian director has managed to create work in the most challenging of circumstances. His films centered around Kurdish life are shocking and real, but frequently touched with hope and humor.
Ghobadi was born in 1969 in Baneh, Iran, and studied film in Tehran. Ghobadi began working in the field of industrial photography and also shot his own short films on 8mm and on video. Between 1995 and 1999 his short films (like »God's Fish«, »Again Rain With the Melody«, »This Man Has Arrived«, »Life in Fog«) earned him numerous awards and opened up new opportunities for him. In 1999, he worked as an assistant director for Abbas Kiarostami and went on to shoot his first feature »A Time For Drunken Horses«, which was awarded the Camera D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2004 he was awarded with the Golden Shell of the San Sebastian International Film Festival for »Turtles can fly«.
Filmography
2000 »A Time For Drunken Horses«
2002 »Songs Of My Motherland« (aka »Marooned in Iraq«)
2004 »Turtles Can Fly«
2006 »Half Moon« (»Niwemang«)
Half Moon (2006)
Renowned old musician Mamo has been granted permission to perform a concert in Iraqi Kurdistan. His faithful friend Kako will drive a school bus and help gather together Mamo's ten musical adult sons, scattered throughout Iranian Kurdistan. Mamo is determined to make this trip across the majestic landscape despite all obstacles. The old Kurdish musician has waited some 35 years for the chance to perform freely again in Iraqi Kurdistan. Mamo even ignores his son's premonition that something awful awaits him before the next full moon. More
