Still on the Film Fest...

15 April 2006 - Sat 9.15pm : Lido
Wedding in Galilee : Dir - Michel Khleifi (Palestine)

8.30pm left home. With hb - drove all the way to Prince2 : show postponed to 27 April 2006 !! What the @#$%*….
Anyway, on the way back, I felt like drinking tehtarik - so we headed to Old Bedok & had tehtarik, beef kueteow in upeh for hb & rojak....

17 April 2006 - Mon 9.15pm : Prince2
Sleeping Child : Dir Yasmine Kassari (Morocco)

A nice film... it explores the life of an isolated generation of women living a rural part of Morocco dealing with the separation fm their husbands who had gone to Spain looking for jobs. Zeinab's husband depart to Spain with his friends a day after their wedding. When she found out that she was 3 months pregnant, her MIL brought her to the local healer, so that the baby can be 'put to sleep' awaiting her son's return to witness the birth of his baby. A 'white magic' was performed by scribbling something (like ayat) on a paper - to be wrapped in copper & kept safely - if opened, the child will never wake up again. Upon deciding to wake up the child, the 'talisman' have to be washed down the river...

The film potrayed the hard life the women faced, working on the bereft land, once worked by the men, who had gone to Spain (facing hard reality that 'the grass is NOT greener on the other side' - No Job in Spain). Anyway, at the end... after a year or so, Zeinab managed to contact her husband & seeked his permission to wake the child up ... he said 'yes', & she let the 'talisman' flow down the river bed...

My question :
Does this practice really exist in Morocco ? My search in the internet bears no fruit ! Can one make the baby in your womb sleep as long as u wanted & wake it up at your convenience ?... huh ? Bagus jugak sey, but....Scientifically & logically... ILLOGICAL ! ??????????????????????? Wallahu-Alam


21 April 2006 - Fri 9.15pm : Prince2
I love Cinema : Dir. Oussama Fawzi (Egypt) {my hb's friend)

Hb was out wif the Arab directors from morning, so I drove to Prince myself & lost my way... coming out of Baliestier instead of Kallang & driving all the way to Sim Lim tower & having to call hb several time to lead me to Prince ... hahaha... (typical me).

It's a beautiful film that are able to effect you personally... u go with the flow & gets into the character. Set in the sixties, this is a controversial film in Egypt, that had angered the Coptic Christian. (that's why it's NC 16, I guess)
It's abt a boy - Naeem, who's love for the movies met with great disapproval from his father... who constantly warned that cinema, singing, dancing will never never see him to heaven.. they r SINFUL.... HARAM !...That Naeem's a bad boy & will go to hell and the fire & worms will devour him, etc..etc..etc.. So the boy gets into cute mischieves & sometimes tell ppl that it doesn't matter that he's bad cos he's going to hell anyway. At other time he negotiated with God - telling Him that if he's able to watch certain movies, he'll be good & say his prayers, etc....
Well, lots of events unfolded & happened.. the movie is funny, cute & emotional (a bit provocative) and touch the reality of our lives (eventhough we wld love to deny it)... of a father's struggle to keep the family fm going to 'hell' by refraining them fm doing what's forbidden.
The film do get loud applause fm the audience.

After the show, we (hb, Oussama & me) went to Al-majlis.. we were joined later by the other directors; Nidal (Syria), Jocelyne (Lebanon), Michel (Palestine) & Wael (Jounalist fm Egypt)... I was BORED by their conversations ! Especially in Arabic which most of it I DON'T really understand !! (Hb should hv sent me home first)... anyway, I was so tired & juz kept quiet... Although Jocelyne & Michel questioned me on why I decide to cover myself, to which I juz answered "bcos I wanted to" (malas nak layan)- After her film 'Dunya', I know she thought of 'us' as being suppressed... well WHO CARES !!!... we left around 2am & reached home abt 2.30am, all shagged up !! ZZZzzz.....

But I do enjoy the movie very much.....


26 April 2006 - Wed 7pm : National Museum
"A New Day in Old Sana'a" - Dir : Bader Ben Hirsi (Yemen)

From work, I drove to YMCA carpark to meet with hb... no carpark so we go around, parked at SMU and walked to National Museum.

Another well done movie, filmed entirely in breathtaking ancient part of Sana'a, Yemen.
Abt a spoilt brad rich girl, soon to be wed. In a community & tradition where love & choosing yr own partner is unheard of, the groom realised that he's actually in love with an ophaned low-class girl. An Italian he worked with, who's there to photograph the life of the ppl there don't really understand why this love affair could be complicated....in a society where u don't marry a person but married the whole family & community. And how could anyone fall in love without knowing each other or even seeing each other ... How love can strike you by just looking into the eyes of the veiled woman. SubhanaAllah... those eyes that could stop a man with juz a glance. Fredriko (the Italian) soon began to understand as he mixed & learned abt their lifes, and one day himself experienced the glance of a woman's eyes when the veiled woman he passed by & accidentally looked up to him... MasyaAllah...beautiful, captivating (yes, juz the eyes!)

The ending is a bid sad... cos Tariq, after asking Ineez to wait for him on the bridge at Midnite to elope, left her standing there till dawn waiting for him. He decided not to shame his family & married his fiancee after all (wat's her name)... So, Ineez... still hoping for Tariq to come, will at every midnite sneaked to the bridge & wait for her beloved.. hoping that one day he'll come... only to find dawn breaking the sky.. she dragged herself home yet again... and waiting with hope for "A New Day in Old Sana'a"....

Wah, after that I was so hungy.... so we set to a Hawker centre in Kallang (famous for soup tulang) & hb had his rib soup & I had mee kuah mama.....
Reached home abt 10.15 & my baby was already in dream land.... sigh... :(