Half Moon*

Directed by: Bahman Ghobadi

HALF MOON is the moving and beautiful new film from Kurdish director Ghobadi (A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES, TURTLES CAN FLY). Mamo, an iconic Kurdish musician in the twilight of his life and in failing health, must lead a dozen of his sons to Iraq for a concert - "a cry of freedom" - to celebrate the fall of Saddam Hussein and the end of his repression of Kurdish music. Their plan is to drive across the border between Iranian and Iraqi Kurdistan, but the road will be long and winding and the local wise man has predicted calamity. On their quest, the men will encounter the most sublime visions alongside the most horrendous brutality - primarily meted out by border guards. But first they must pick up Hesho, Mamo`s exiled singer and muse. The "celestial voice" she represents takes on a divine, transformative power, and Mamo is left in a state of grace no one could ever have anticipated.

HALF MOON was one of seven films commissioned for the Wiener Mozart New Crowned Hope Festival, Vienna 2006, which also included Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY and Tsai Ming-Liang‘s I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE. HALF MOON screened as an Official Selection in the Toronto Film Festival, 2006.

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