Oct 19, 2007, 6:12 PM

Iraq picks Kurdish film “Jan-i-Gal” for Oscar race

TEHRAN, Oct. 19 (MNA) -- “Jan-i-Gal”, a drama directed by Iranian Kurdish filmmaker Jamil Rostami, has been selected to represent Iraq in the category of Best Foreign Language Film at the 80th Annual Academy Awards, taking place February 24, 2008.

A joint production of Iran and Iraq, “Jan-i-Gal” tells the story of a man called Jwamer, who is seriously wounded and arrested by mistake as the ringleader of a demonstration in the town of Sulaymaniah. He serves a ten-year prison sentence and, as soon as he is set free, goes in search of his wife and child, but is unable to find news of them.

 

The film is based on a novel of the same name by the Iraqi Kurdish poet and novelist Ibrahim Ahmed. His “Jan-i-Gal” (The Agony of a People) is described by critics as the first accurate novel depicting the cultural and political situation of Iraq during the 1940s and 1950s.

 

In July, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani attended the premiere of the film in Sulaymaniah, Iraqi Kurdistan.

 

Rostami’s “Requiem of Snow”, another joint production of Iran and Iraq, represented Iraqi cinema at the 78th Annual Academy Awards in 2006.

 

MMS/MA

END

MNA

News ID 25399

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