How to Cross (from Jiliz to Jiliz) (Sona Kocharyan & Marineh Kocharyan, Armenia, 2014)
Age Rating: 12A
15 minutes, UK premiere
Regent Street Cinema
Short Documentary
Language: Armenian with English subtitles
Director: Sona Kocharyan, Marineh Kocharyan
Producers: Sona Kocharyan, Marineh Kocharyan
Cinematographer: Sona Kocharyan
Music: Lilit Bleyan
From her house in Armenia, Lusine can see the rooftop of her family’s village in Georgia, just one kilometre away, but to visit her relatives who she has not seen in six years, the invisible border between the two countries means a journey of over 100km.
Tickets for this short which includes entry to the main film Mina Walking should be purchased at the Regent Street Cinema here.
To watch the trailer click below:-
Mina Walking (Yosef Baraki, Afghanistan / Canada, 2015)
Age Rating: 12A
110 minutes, UK premiere
Regent Street Cinema
Film
Language: Dari with English subtitles
Director: Yosef Baraki
Screenwriter: Yosef Baraki
Producers: Asef Baraki, Andrew Korogyi
Cinematographer: Yosef Baraki
Music: Vaheed Kaacemy
Cast: Farzana Nawabi, Marina Golbahari, Safi Fanaie, Hashmatullah Fanai, Qadir Aryaie
Single film ticket prices: Adults £11; Senior/Student/Unemployed/Associate cardholders £10; Children under 16: £7
Special price for double bills (which includes Panchagavya and The Monk): Adults £15; Senior/Student/Unemployed/Associate cardholders £13; Children under 16 £10
Regent Street Cinema Members and University of Westminster students and staff have special rates and these can be seen on the Regent Street Cinema website here.
Following the death of her mother at the hands of the Taliban, it is left to 12-year-old Mina (Farzana Nawabi) to keep the home fires burning. Washing, cooking and cleaning while working peddling souvenirs on the street in order to support her feckless heroin addict father and senile grandfather, her life is an overwhelmingly thankless one. Seeing the possibilities now open to girls of her age, the bright and energetic young girl secretly begins attending school against her father’s wishes, setting in motion a change of events that will have severe ramifications for all of them.
This bold first feature by Canadian-Afghan director Yosef Baraki who wrote, directed and worked as cameraman during the hazardous 19-day shoot, was filmed with a non-professional cast in a realistic, semi-improvised style that recalls the finest work of Iranian directors such as Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Compelling and unpredictable, this revelatory drama presents a vivid, intimate yet expansive portrait seldom seen in the Western media of life on the streets of war-torn Kabul in the run-up to the inaugural Afghani elections.
Tickets for this film (which includes How to Cross) should be purchased on the Regent Street Cinema website here. Special price for double bills which include Panchagavya and The Monk are also available.
+ Skype Q & A with director Yosef Baraki after the film
For more information go to the film’s website here.
To watch the trailer click below:-
Mina Walking – Official 2015 Trailer (HD) from Mina Walking on Vimeo.
These films are being screened as part of the Asia House Film Festival 2016. To read about all the films being screened at this year’s Festival click here.
To see all the films being screened at the Regent Street Cinema during the Festival click here.
Follow us @asiahouseuk and use the hashtag #AHFILM16.