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Be Like Others by Tanaz Eshaghian, USA/Canada/Iran (Documentary - International Premiere). Iranian men undergoing sex-change operations. [read an interview with Tanaz Eshaghian] [read the BBC profile]

“You are unusual creatures, but completely normal.”

Thus a surgeon begins his consultation with a young Iranian man seeking a sex-change operation to love his boyfriend safely, as a woman. In the Islamic Republic of Iran. homosexuality is punishable by death. Twenty-five years ago, however, the Ayatollah Khomeini wrote a fatwa pronouncing transsexuality legal and allowing for sex-change operations. Pure logic - nothing in the Koran specifically forbids the surgery.

The operation is difficult, even brutal, according to a surgeon - a section of intestine is removed to fashion a vagina (chosen for texture and lubricating potential). Afterwards, the patient receives a new birth certificate with her new gender.

Difficulties extend into the ethical/moral sphere. Is society forcing these people to have an operation, as a rescue from a judgment of homosexuality? Doctors, Koranic experts, and patients offer their perspectives on the sense and apparent contradictions of the policy and practice.

Before surgery, one man explains his situation:

“If I didn’t live in Iran, I wouldn’t touch God’s work.”

In the end, some of the patients are abandoned by boyfriends and family, and make money consummating temporary marriages - in essence, sanctioned prostitution. “I have killed love in my being,” says one, expressing a deep regret in exile, shunned by parents and without a proper place in society.

With an American and Iranian passport, Eshaghian had great freedom to film and produce this document. No one in the government reviewed the tapes or the finished film. She is no ideologue - just a smart and compassionate documentarian.

Winner of the Teddy Jury Award.

Visit the websites of the Berlinale and International Forum.

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Comments and Links Appreciated!

Corridor #8 by Boris Despodov, Bulgaria (Documentary - world premiere). “A geographic tale” of “life along the Corridor #8 infrastructure project connecting the Adriatic and Black seas, and linking Bulgaria, FYROM, and Albania.” [read more at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival site]

“A hand on the shoulder, and a knife in the back.” Who could resist the charms of a movie that opens with such insightful joy in human failings?

The film traces the observations and opinions of, among others, a gravedigger, a market shopkeeper, a U.S.-born minister without portfolio, a boat guide, an Islamic mystic dervish, and a family imprisoned in their home as a result of a blood-feud.

In the words of the director, a road movie for a road that doesn’t exist. The planned, but never built, highway project would have connected populations that have been geographically separated for generations.

“I don’t know any Albanians, and I don’t want to.”
“A pure Bulgarian? I’ve never met one.”

Accompanied by a lusty soundtrack of Balkan music.

Visit the websites of the Berlinale and International Forum.

film festivals berlinale berlin film festival berlinale forum internationales forum des jungen films berlin human rights

Comments and Links Appreciated!

W.R. - Misterije Organizma (W.R. - Mysteries of the Organism) by Dusan Makavejev, Yugoslavia, Federal Rep. Germany (Documentary). 1971 documentary features sexual liberation theories of Wilhelm Reich. [read more at Berlinale site] [IMDb]

This fascinating film is in two parts. The first a straightforward documentary about Wilhelm Reich’s last years in Maine, where he established a community before being arrested and banned by the U.S. government. His books were actually burned on order of a U.S. court.

The second is a fantastic allegorical tale that infuses Reich’s theories of sexual liberation into traditional Marxist-Leninist theory. “Comrade lovers, for your health’s sake, fuck freely!” Not to be missed.

Visit the websites of the Berlinale and International Forum.

film festivals berlinale berlin film festival berlinale forum internationales forum des jungen films berlin human rights

Comments and Links Appreciated!

The Exiles by Kent Mackenzie, USA (Documentary). A 1961 documentary chronicling a day in the life of a group of twenty-something Native Americans who left reservation life in the 1950s to live in LA. [read more at Wikipedia]

A unique and powerful film, blending storytelling with documentation. Mackenzie constructed a narrative about one day in the life of three main characters - a pregnant young woman (Yvonne), the father (Homer), and a man about town (Tommy). Both men are profound alcoholics, and the woman seems stunned by the circumstances of her life though hopeful for the future of her child.

The film opens with portraits from Edward Sheriff Curtis’s monumental North American Indian, which I recommend as a starting place. Mackenzie has a sharp eye for cultural details - check out the Grand Hotel mattress in Yvonne and Homer’s apartment, as well as the magazines, comics, advertisements, toys, and street scenes.

The story develops via voiceovers by Yvonne, Homer, and Tommy - and an amazing middle sequence from the rez, with generous doses of native language and music.

This is a must-see movie for anyone interested in social work, indigenous peoples, or the dark side of American culture. Never boring for any viewer.

Read an interview with Christoph Terhechte, director of Forum.

Visit the websites of the Berlinale and International Forum.

film festivals berlinale berlin film festival berlinale forum internationales forum des jungen films berlin human rights immigration

Comments and Links Appreciated!

Rescuing Eldridge Street: A Preservation Conversation
Sunday, 27 January, 2008

Abstracted from the program: The Eldridge Street Synagogue, which opened its doors in 1887, is the only remaining marker of the great wave of Jewish migration to Manhattan’s Lower East Side that is open to a broad public. Nearly lost to time, harsh weather, and limited use, the synagogue has been faithfully restored to its original, evocative grandeur by a 20-year, $20-million restoration led by Roberta Brandes Gratz (founder of the Museum at Eldridge Street); Jill Gotthelf and Walter Sedovic of Walter Sedovic Architects; construction manager Terry Higgens; and preservation specialists Tom Garcia of The Gil Studio (stained glass), Jeff Greene of Evergreene Painting Studios (decorative paint), and Dawn Ladd of Aurora Lampworks (lighting).

synagogues restoration architecture

Comments and Links Appreciated!