Blank city

This is a review I wrote for Blank City, a film recently directed by Celine Danhier and the interview I had with her. They were aired this morning on CKUT radio, in the film segment of "Wednesday morning after" program.
This week, there was also another interview with Eric Tessier, a 3D filmmaker. He talks in length about Pina Bausch, Wim Wender's recent art film in 3D. 
You can listen to the whole film segment here. It starts at minute 22.

Below you can listen to my review and interview on Blank City.

Blank city by Acey

Quite a few films including documentaries have been made about the influential underground music scene in the 70s whereas a place for a movie chronicling “no wave cinema” and “cinema of transgression” was empty. Recently however, Celine Danhier, plucked up the courage to start her filmmaking carrier by documenting one of the most significant yet short eras of film history which took place in New York city.

No one can deny the role of directors such as “Jim Jarmusch”, “Amos Poe”, “Eric Mitchell”, “James Nares” and the likes in cinema. These pioneers of No Wave movement were dissidents who used the Lower East Manhattan to craft candid movies, which shaped the Independent Film today.

The artist community who where the denizens of the dilapidated buildings in that part of New York,             came together with no money in their pockets, often stealing rolls of films or cameras, to make films of their lives and that of people in this area at the time where the city had gone bankrupt. There was no script, no real actor and all was done by a super8 camera.

In Blank City many of the influential directors, musicians, photographers, artists and sometimes a blend of these like John Lurie and Steve Buscemi, tell their stories of that time.

The audacity of the photographers becomes striking when we realize that “there were people who believed taking photos is equal to stealing souls”. Amos Poe describes this cash-strapped period of his life as “best time, worst time”.

Directors as well as actors were seeking a semi-documentary possibility; thereby the distinctive ethos of No Wave Cinema, which made it one of a kind, was a knack to make narrative instead of art film. The films were free from style to maintain the stance of a period, which gave birth to leading figures like Andy Warhol and street artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring. Heroin had become prevalent and many of the epoch-making artists including the latter 2, died of AIDS or drug addiction. One of the artists in the movie recalls this tragedy: “my friends came to me one by one and confided in me that they were HIV positive. It was awful to see them all lined up to be executed.”

Music was one of the axes of No Wave cinema. Interviews with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Debbie Harry of Blondie, alongside the soundtrack made by Patti Smith, Television, Liquid Liquid and many more, highlight this element in Blank city.

The title of the movie at first place produced an image in my mind of a blank space which turns into a city, but after watching the film, I asked myself: could this blank space come out of Berlin, Paris,London or it was just New York which could give birth to this city?

AmerAsia film festival

This is my report on the second AmerAsia film festival in Montreal in March 2011, which was aired on CKUT radio. It includes interviews with the organizer "Mi Jeong Lee" and "Gerry Balasta", the director of "the mountain thief".
 

For my reviews on two of the festival films, refer to the following links:
"the mountain thief"
"don't cry for me Sudan"

The Mountain Thief

Thief? Stealing on the mountain? May be there is a treasure up there, but the treasures in "The mountain thief" are not gold or gemstones, nor the mountain is high in the clouds.
"The mountain thief" reveals the story of a land where people's treasure is trash. The land on which people who inherit a space on dump, are considered lucky. The land where a 6 year-old child who fled the atrocities of war, feels safe and happy.
The film muddles our notion of security, happiness and hopes. It is acutely difficult to fathom the gravity of a situation where one's hope is to own a piece of dump site. It wouldn't even cross our mind that the things we throw away, could be fought over, to the extent that it would cost a life. But in Payatas, these are all possible.
Far from the battlefield where people live in cities, there lies a land of trash which shelters people deprived of fresh air. The inhabitants of this land, are scavengers, who make a living by recycling trash, sometimes finding a piece of metal or anything still of value equal to a portion of food.
"Gerry Balasta" takes us to this land and tells us a story. Before unveiling the true story of the scavengers of Payatas, he asks them to play a fictional story for us in front of the camera, simply because he's not a documentarist. He wants us to see the story he created, hinting at the importance of religion mingled with superstition in Philippines.
Had it not been for his story, one might have given up watching the harsh story of the real lives of the scavengers, and thus not have asked oneself many questions:
Was I aware of such lands spread along the globe? How much is trash worth? What do governments do for these scavengers? How is trash dealt with in my country?

Thinking on these questions, few things came to my mind. The first was a photo reportage by Majid Saeedi from Peshawar in Pakistan, telling the story of an Afghan boy who sought refuge in Pakistan to collect garbage and earn a living.
The second thing I thought of, was the importance of educating people why and how to recycle; and last but not least, what have environmentalists done in these countries?

Don't cry for me Sudan

This was aired on August 3rd 2011 on CKUT

 

Perhaps the title of this movie reminds you of Eva Peron song for Argentina and how people were mournful for the loss of such a great woman.
However it is a far cry from Sudan crying for a Korean man. "Lee Tae-seok", was a doctor, who became a priest and found his happiness among the helpless, miserable people of Tonj in Sudan, but to me, he was the saviour, the father, not only to the young children of Tonj, but also to the aged.
He was an astonishingly hard-working man with a great deal of talent and creativity. His love for music was an inspiration to found the first brass band in Tonj which transformed guns to horns, trombones and trumpets, at the time when children were forced by warmongers to fight in the civil war.

Lee built the first hospital and a few years alter, the first school of full 12 grades. It was overwhelming to see how tireless this devoted man was, seeing 300 patients a day, teaching math at the school and not letting a single patient knock twice on his door during the night.
The most admiring part of the movie was the scene where he was thinking of building a school:

" I asked myself, what would Jesus build here, a school or a church? He would definitely build a school. "

To me, this attitude is unique among men of God and that was most striking of all.
The movie is made during several years, documenting the building of the first clinic which became the first hospital, the first school and the first brass band in Tonj.

Although the life of a priest is destined to be devoted to church, the director's intention is obviously not advocating religion but rather focuse on the humanitarian aspect of Lee's life and that is the most compelling aspect of this movie.

However the narrator's story telling style throughout the whole movie was bothersome, in that, it didn't match the ambiance of the movie as if she is telling a jolly story.
This, together with some unnecessary graphic scenes, were the only negative side of this movie.

Movie's page at AmerAsia film festival website

Die Fremde: The foreigner

This review was aired on CKUT on Aug 17th,2011 in the film segment program.

Die Fremde which means foreigner or stranger, is the title of the first movie by Feo Aladag, the Austrian director. The movie’s name is however translated to “When we leave” and has won several awards in different festivals such as Berlin and Tribeca film festivals.

Umay, the leading role, is a young woman of Turkish descent whose family has emigrated to Germany; however she is living with her husband and son in Istanbul. As a result of her husband’s violence towards her and her son, she decides to leave him for her family in Berlin, in the hope of starting a new life with a little help from them. Unfortunately, with all the reverence she has towards her family, they stick so obstinately to traditions still valued by the Turkish immigrant community, that not only they don’t welcome and help her but also make her life more miserable than she could imagine.

There are poignant scenes in the movie which make us wonder how destructive prejudice can be.

Umay’s husband, a typical traditional Middle-Eastern man, who treats a woman like a slave, comes to bed few hours after he has struck her against the wall, when she wanted to defend her helpless little child. Umay pretends to be asleep but her husband who sees her as nothing but a piece of flesh, gets on top of her and finishes up like an animal.

At home with her family in Berlin, Umay intends to break the ice at dinner and there we see how his younger brother shouts at her commandingly telling her she is not staying there long. Umay who is hopeful to persuade her father, tells him that her husband beats her but her father doesn’t seem to care: “He’s your husband; the hand that strikes is also the hand that soothes. A slap or two is no reason to run”

Umay is not a shrew; she just wants to live like a decent woman, have the basic rights and not to be beaten. But she’s asking for too much from the family who chooses the community over their daughter.

 The movie depicts how authoritative Turkish men can be. I don’t say the old generation because not only the father is commanding but also Umay’s younger brother is even more prejudiced. His dogmatism reaches to the point that he coaxes his father to snatch Cem, Umay’s son, and to take him back to his father in Istanbul. To him, his sister has disgraced her family and by taking Cem from his father, Umay has made the child a bastard.

It is relieving that Umay is in a country where her basic rights are respected and the foreign society ruled by humane values, are less foreigner to her than her family. She leaves her family home for a shelter under police protection and starts working in a restaurant.

What is compelling in this movie, is Umay’s effort in convincing her family that she in fact reveres them and is not bringing shame and disgrace upon them. Umay’s first attempt in confronting her mother is in vain. Rana, Umay’s sister is getting married and upon hearing the story which had spread among the Turkish community, her suitor’s family oppose to the wedding. To them, Rana’s family has no honor.

It is so harshly striking to see how this lost honor is easily bribed. The question arises in my mind: What kind of honor is this that can be bought?

Umay tries once more, this time, dressed elegantly, she takes her son to her sister’s wedding where she’s warned by her youngest brother to leave. She persists, hoping to gain her family’s heart on this day where her sister could finally marry the man she was fond of. Instead, her brother greets her with violence, beats her and throws her out of the place.

I was flabbergasted to see her never ending effort when she went back to her family house and brought her father baklava in Ramadan few days after the wedding. Inside, I told myself, this girl is out of her mind. The director delicately made me a foreigner to Umay, though from a different aspect.

Umay doesn’t give up. She believes “blood is thicker than water” as her father used to say. Though her father finally asks her forgiveness on the deathbed, the price Umay paid in the end for his profound ignorance was high. The ignorance nurturing male chauvinism in his family.

Before watching the movie, I didn’t know that the German title meant “stranger” or “foreigner”; yet throughout the movie, I was constantly reminded of “the stranger” by Camus. Although the stories are way different but the sheer notion of foreigner, or stranger befitted Umay, who was a foreigner to her own family.

Reading Henry Miller

I'm enjoying my time with "Tropic of cancer" by Henry Miller. This is the first book I am reading from him. I was so enthusiastic to start it after I watched "Henry and June" last year.
The edition I have, has a fantastic introduction by Karl Shapiro and a preface by Anaïs Nin. Reading the introduction, I couldn't not share some parts with you.
"Morally I regard Miller as a holy man, as most of his adherents do-Gandhi with a penis!" Shapiro says. He quotes Miller from his different books which makes me want to read even more from this great American Author. Who knows, may be he becomes another guru for me, sitting beside Oscar Wilde.

This is from "Tropic of Capricorn"
"to walk in money through the night crowd, protected by money, lulled by money, dulled by money, the crowd itself a money, the breath money, no least single object anywhere that is not money, money, money, everywhere and still not enough, and then no money, or a little money or less money or more money, but money, always money, and if you have money or you don't have money it is the money that counts and money makes money, but what makes money makes money?"

"Everything was for tomorrow, but tomorrow never came. The present was only a bridge and on this bridge they are still groaning, as the world groans, and not one idiot ever thinks of blowing up the bridge"

He says about America:
"Combating the system is nonsense. There is only one aim in life and that is to live it. In America it has become impossible, except for a few lucky or wise people, to live one's own life; consequently the poets and artists tend to move to the fringes of society. Wherever there are frontiers. The American way of life has become illusory; we lead the lives of prisoners while we boast about free speech, free press, and free religion, none of which we actually do enjoy in full. The price of security has become too great; abundance has become a travesty." 


Shapiro says: Do we really have a high standard of living? Miller says not, as most poets do. If living means appreciation of life we have the lowest standard of living in the world, in spite of the fact that it costss more to live in America than in any country in the world. Miller says:

"The cost is not only in dollars and cents but in sweat and blood, in frustration, ennui, broken homes, smashed ideals, illness and insanity. We have the most wonderful hospitals, the most fabulous prisons, the best equipped and highest paid army and navy, the speediest bombers, the largest stockpile af atom bombs, yet never enough of any of these items to satisfy the demand. Our manual workers are the highest paid in the world; our poets the worst..."


There are yet innumerable wise words from Miller but they don't fit in a single post. So I finish here.

Live music at Flèche d'Or in Paris

When I went to a gig or concert, I wanted to enjoy listening to music rather than filming or taking photos. I thought I would never want to ruin the enjoyment of music.
But when I started photography, things became a bit different. I told myself that I want to give it a chance to capture those moments when musicians play with zest and are spurred on to give the best of their performance.
I enjoy small gigs by indie musicians whom I discovered in the course of time. There were quite a few places in Paris offering these musicians a place to play, and music lovers, a modest ticket,  to come, enjoy and recognize these artists. Most of these places have a pub-like or bar-like ambiance, with a small stage not far from the audience. One of these places was Flèche d'Or. It was near where I lived. I took a bus and I was there in 10 minutes.
I went there several times to take photos. Here are some of them. For all photos on each gig, you can click on the link on my flickr page.

Here are two from "Plants and Animals", a Canadian based indie rock band from my new city, Montreal.

Listen to "Lola who"and "undone Melody on their myspace page.

The following three are from "Band of Skulls". They are from London and are alternative. Their debut album "Baby darling doll face honey" has quite a few good tracks including "Fire", "honest" and "cold flame". You can listen to the first 2 songs on their myspace page and I will include the third one below the photos.

Emma, was the first female bassist I saw.

It was one of those very crowded gigs at Flèche d'Or that I even had to get permission to take photos.

And here's "cold flame"



"Viva and the Diva", a Paris based experimental band is comprised of Maxime Delpierre, Sir Alice, Arnaud Roulin and Mark Kerr. Their performance was perhaps the most hardcore I had seen. Do check some of the experimental jazz works by Delpierre and if the band has a gig, don't hesitate to go.
Here are some photos from the frenzied Sir Alice.

If you're in Paris, check out the programs on Parisian, l'international and Flèche d'Or. The 2 latter are venues and there are often good shows there.

coincidence of Pont des Arts in Paris and Place des Arts in Montreal

A few months ago, when I was in Paris and I was walking in the streets, somewhere behind Notre Dame, I saw two young musicians who were playing John Lennon's "Imagine". I could say they didn't know Paris well enough and that they had just started their journey. I sat on the floor and listened. After a while, we started to talk and they turned out to be Czech. I told them how much I loved Prague and I had great memories during my 2 visits. They asked me what I wanted them to play and I said some folk Czech songs.

I then took them for a small tour around Rive Gauche, Place St Michel and finally to Pont des Arts, places where they could play and have more audience.
When we arrived at Pont des Arts, one of them said: "Wow! there's a party here". He was right. It was Saturday evening and as usual summer nights, this bridge was full of people who were sitting on it, eating, drinking and playing music.

After a few hours, we saw 2 other musicians who were playing tom-tom and accordion. The Czech guys started talking to them and one of them turned out to be from Montreal. I told him that I'm going to move to Montreal soon and we started talking. Then we all went down the bridge on the river bank where there were some more young musicians playing mostly tom-tom and so they played all together.
Here are 2 photos from that night. The rest you can see on my flickr page.

Today, after 3 months, without having any contact from the Montrealer, while walking my way in "Place des Arts" metro station in Montreal, I bumped into him!

What could be the probability of seeing someone you saw only once, in a place where it has a common word to the first place and that word happens to be "arts"?

Crazy world, isn't it?

Life in Paris II

Unlike what I thought in the first 4 months that I had arrived in Paris, she is one lively city where you can feel life in different aspects. In this post, I want to show you some of the frames of the street art scene in Paris. You can see more photos on my flickr set

Place Saint Michel is one of those places where you can find these sort of performers almost every evening.

Bastille was one of those other places where you could find street musicians and some of them were awesome.

This man was a painter who painted on the floor near Chatelet.

He changed his painting almost everyday!

Near Montmartre, there were street art performers,

as well as musicians. This was the first time I saw such an instrument. My friend told me it is called "saw". It was made of a thin layer of metal, as thin as a paper, and it had a sound similar to violin but higher. It's an American folk instrument having its roots in the 19th century but which has become worldwide from the 20th century. 
You might be surprised to know that Tom Waits, Sarah McLachlan, Penderecki and even Neutral Milk Hotel used this instrument in their music. If anyone has a video link of performance by these artists, please leave it as comment. 

This was in Paris XX. "One should not trust words". Do you agree?

Kiosk gig in Montreal

My next post on Paris will come after this one.

I'm back from Kiosk gig, the second one of their tour which has started on 5th of November. The first one was in Toronto and the rest is in Europe. Kisok will perform in Köln, Florence, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Oslo, Gothenburg and Stockholm. Tara Kamangar, the dexterous musician is accompanying Kiosk at this tour and plays violin. 
Only after 2 weeks of my arrival in Montreal, I was lucky to get a ticket to this gig through my friend, since they were sold out.
I got to know this band in Tehran, 4 years ago. The first song I heard was "Eshgh-e sorat" which was apparently the most successful song of their second album. This album also had a song called "Amoo Asdollah", which made reference to the characters in the very famous book of "My uncle Napolean".  I soon got their debut album, and found my favorite song, "road to happiness" in it.

Kiosk released "Global zoo" in 2008 and "triple distilled" just recently.
Like always, Kiosk lyrics are mostly inspired by social realities and changes in Iran. Arash wittily makes allusions to proverbs; In the case of "Agha! Nigah dar", he refers to a hero of our childhood stories, and challenges the listeners by questioning the famous cliche of "Is wealth better or knowledge?"

Although the lyrics are Persian, the music speaks to a wide range of people from everywhere; there were quite a few non-Iranians at the concert as well. Just grasping the words "Tarzan" and "cheetah" in "ay ay" from "global zoo", is enough for them cuz the music itself tells the rest.

If I want to describe Kiosk music genre, I would say a mix of blues, jazz and gypsy. The gypsy tone is very much highlighted by Ardalan Payvar's accordion and Tara Kamangar's accompaniment by violin.
During some pieces, I was reminded of "Gogol Bordello", not that they are similar but because both have gypsy influence in their music.

One interesting part in the concert was during "Bitarbiat", when the audience filled the gaps of the censored words loudly!

I managed to take some photos from the band tonight and I'm gonna share them with you here. To see all the photos, click on my flickr page, click on the slide show, below the search field and watch them.

Here's Ardalan Payvar, on accordion.

 

He also played on keyboard

Arash Sobhani, the founder of the band, also surprised the audience of Montreal, by singing a song from Leonard Cohen, the Montrealer artist and one of my favorite singers of all time. It was a nice gesture. 

 Shahrouz Molaei, the enthusiastic drummer of Kiosk.

Tara Kamangar, is initially pianist but she plays violin with Kiosk. Her artistry play, gave the whole performance, a remarkable charm.

Ali Kamali, the basist

and again Arash, who was really into it!

If you're in one of the tour destinations, don't miss their concert. And last but not least, after each song, the audience was asking for "yarom bia". But did Kiosk play this folkloric song or was just firing the audience up till the end of the concert and not quenching their thirst? You'll see...

Life in Paris I

Me: What do you advise? Any books to read? How can I become a good photographer?
Alfred: Just take photos, that's all I can tell you. You will not learn from books. You learn through the process of taking photos. Your photos should tell a story.
Reza: Take your camera with you everyday when you go to work. Get out half an hour earlier than you do and just take photos. When you come home, edit your photos you took on that day and get used to it.

And so that's what I did. I took my camera with me about 75% of the days and most of the photos I took, were on the way to and back from work.
I'm gonna share some of them with you here. You can click on the right of my blog to see more on my flickr page.

This is the one I shot on the first day that I took my camera to work with me. It was on the tram; I went 2 more stations after my stop to take it. The questioning look on the child's face is adorable. What do you think s/he asking?

In most big cities, people use metro on the daily basis and Paris is one of them. On this daily routine, some who travel a long distance, use this underground route and travel time, to sleep. This shows how people are sleep deprived and how city life has divested people from one of their basic needs.

This is another one, a poor woman, on the way back home at midnight. 

I think a river in a city, gives a totally different ambiance to it. There is a kind of liveliness that is brought by water, an inspiration for artists and a delightful peace for others who saunter by the river bank or stroll on the bridges. In the case of Paris, people would even sit on Pont des Arts, drink wine while enjoying their time with friends and socializing. 

Such a scene is something you can easily find in Paris, be it near the Seine, Bassin de l'Arsenail or Canal St Martin. 

As I said, not only near Seine, but also by Bassin de l'Arsenail, people, young and old, spend quality time together.

This one is also on the bank of Seine. Even seeing this scene made me feel peaceful.

"If your photos are not good enough, you're not close enough". This is what I remember of Robert Capa, when I see some of my photos, including this one. 

I'm gonna stop here since I have more posts with photos of Paris. Please let me know if you have trouble loading the page on my blog. 

Paris and friends

I never stayed in a city, or rather a country, long enough to really know the people and their culture; Paris was not an exception, although compared to my previous 2 destinations, my sojourn was a bit longer.

During the first 4 months of my arrival, I almost hated the city mostly because I was only traveling underground from school to my small studio apartment, and I had lots to study.

My dearest friend visited me for a month in November and stayed most of the time with me inside, so I could study. We went out every other day but then, apart from the touristic sites that we visited, I only knew 2 places: 1-Bastille with its famous rue de la Roquette, full of bars, pubs and restaurants and 2-Saint Michel with always crowded narrow streets of Rue de la Harpe and Rue de la Huchette.

I didn't even know Rue Saint-André des Arts which I discovered months later. So for those of you who live in Paris, you can imagine why I didn't like the city! I almost knew nowhere else.

After 4 months, I told myself, this city cannot be famous for nothing and so there is something wrong with me for not loving it. I set out to discover Paris. It was by jogging and biking that I fell in love with the city I lived in for one year.

The bouquinistes alongside the Seine, gave the city a special charm and attraction. The term bouquiniste does not only refer to secondhand booksellers, but also to those who sell postcards, prints and photos from the old city, though they're not limited to Paris and often contain photos from artists who visited Paris, especially Jim Morisson.

I really can't say which quartier was my favorite. Quartier Latin was the place I visited often. Le Marais, the Jewish district which was also full of Gay bars, was my other favorite place since it was the only lively place on Sundays where everywhere else were closed.

Marais was full of Jewish delis, restaurants and pastry shops. "Sacha et fils" was both a deli and pastry shop with marvelous Eastern European buffet and delicious Vatrouchkas (cheese cakes). In front of it was another restaurant, deli and pastry shop called "Chez Marianne". The good thing about it was that you could go and sit inside the restaurant with its cozy ambiance, with tens of bottles of wine, piled one on the other, in the wall hole near the tables. You could also sit outside if it was not cold and enjoy your meal with fine wine, while sometimes listening to street musicians like this man who played piano incessantly, for almost 2 hours.

Here's a photo of Nazgol, after we had eaten in Chez Marianne.

Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to take more photos of her, she was always traveling! She has one amazing, nonpareil look; wild is the word.
Apart from places where you could indulge yourself in food, there were plenty of galleries in Marais where you could spend hours enjoying different genres of art.

I also met these 2 young girls while walking in Marais one night; Rachel and Jade, who were kind enough to let me take some photos of them.

Here's a candid shot of Jade:

Paris 20, was the place I discovered during the "fête des artistes". The following photos are from this festival in Belleville and Ménilmontant.

Mouffetard was another lovely quartier, where I spent the last 2 weeks of my stay in Paris, with a friend who hosted me. Here she is, Mahka, while she's walking down the narrow streets of Mouffetard, paved with cobblestones. 

Here are 2 more photos I took from her, a day when we were walking around Rive Gauche.

I like the red of her cardigan which stands out in the photo.

I like the black and white photo of her as well, with a bit different setting.

And here is one I took on the "Jour de Patrimoine", the Heritage Day, near Rive Gauche.

On this day, I went out with Hasty, my closest friend in Paris, who also hosted me for a few days. We enjoyed tasting wine, cheese and pastry specialties on the side of the Seine.  I also wanted to take some photos of her. Here are some I came up with.

And my most beautiful friend in Paris, Nastaran, with her ravishing look and seductive eyes.

We went to Jardin du Luxembourg on a sunny day in summer. Isn't she stunning?

I have to confess I was stressed during the time I was shooting her. I am definitely not good at directing people on how to pose. It's because I found myself mostly interested in documentary and on the spot photography. I asked my friends for a photo shoot cuz I wanted to have a go at figurative photography as well. But for that, a good photographer is the one who makes her subject feel at ease and comfortable and I am not yet strong in that as my friend Dominique, who does a different type of photography but has become really good in it, in just a few months.

Apart from narrow streets in old cities, I have a keen interest in old doors!

And lastly, sweet Marcia, a writer I met about a month before I left Paris.

We met in a cafe near Shakespeare bookshop close to Notre Dame.  This homey bookshop was one of my favorite places as well. Inside, there was an old typewriter, a piano and cushions all over for visitors to take their time and leaf through the books.

I think this post got really long and I hope most of you made it till the end!

I will have more photos from Paris which I will post soon. Stay tuned!