Iran Movie Break: "No One Knows About Persian Cats"

No One Knows About Persian Cats, directed by Bahman Ghobadi, is beginning to get international attention. Winner of an award at Cannes, the drama with the feel of a documentary is set in the underground rock scene of Iran, where a guitarist and a singer want to play in London.

Iran Politics and Music: Sasi Mankan’s “Karroubi”

The film has now received a short review in The Times and is being shown in independent cinemas in Britain over the next six weeks (schedule below the trailer).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd3oLo2_5a4[/youtube]

LONDON RELEASE


26 March Curzon, Soho

26 March Ritzy, Brixton

2 April Gate Picturehouse, Notting Hill

9 April Cine Lumiere

10 April Picturehouse, Greenwich

11 April Picturehouse, Clapham

13 April Picturehouse, Stratford, East London

REGIONAL RELEASE

26 March The Belmont Picturehouse, Aberdeen

26 March Little Theatre, Bath

26 March Watershed, Bristol

26 March Showroom, Sheffield

2 April Phoenix Picturehouse, Oxford

4 April City Screen Picturehouse, York

5 April Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh

8 April Harbour Lights Picturehouse, Southampton

9 April Cornerhouse, Manchester

10 April Picturehouse, Exeter

11 April Picturehouse, Stratford-Upon-Avon

12 April Picturehouse Fact, Liverpool

12 April Phoenix Square,Leicester

13 April Regal Picturehouse, Henley-On-Thames

16 April DCA, Dundee

18 April Picturehouse Duke of Yorks, Brighton

19 April Picturehouse Cinema City, Norwich

27 April Picturehouse at Fact, Liverpool

5 May Campus West, Welwyn Garden City

15 May Dukes Cinema, Lancaster

IRELAND

26 March IFI, Dublin

26 March Lighthouse, Dublin

US Politics Music Video Special: The "Yes We Can/Hell No We Can't" Mash-Up

While John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, couldn't defeat President Obama on the health care bill, he made sure that he left behind a killer line. Here it is, mixed with the music video that helped put Obama in the White House:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpOUctySD68[/youtube]

Happy St. Patrick's Day from EA

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU&feature=related[/youtube]

EA's Photos of the Decade: Your Turn

OK, over to you. Liam Kennedy of the Clinton Institute for American Studies has presented his 10 nominations for Photo of the Decade, from Palestinians fleeing tear gas in 2000 to the death of Neda Agha Soltan in 2009. But his is just one opinion. We invite readers to present their own choice from the 10 photographs or submit their own nominations.

Click on the images below to view them in full.

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EA/Clinton Institute Special: The Photos of the Decade

REUTERS/Juan Medina

Starting today, Enduring America teams up with the Photography and International Conflict website of the Clinton Institute for American Studies in a special project on "The Photos of the Decade". Each day for 10 days we will post a photograph from a year in the decade, and we will invite readers to submit their own memorable photographs. We will then continue the discussion until readers select The Photograph of the Decade.

Photos of the Decade: 2009 (Neda)
Photos of the Decade: 2008 (Sichuan Earthquake)
Photos of the Decade: 2007 (Bhutto Assassination)
Photos of the Decade: 2006 (Immigrant on a Beach)
Photos of the Decade: 2005 (Tsunami)
Photos of the Decade: 2004 (Abu Ghraib)
Photos of the Decade: 2003 (Bombs on Baghdad)
Photos of the Decade: 2002 (Daniel Pearl)
Photos of the Decade: 2001 (9-11 Moment)
Photos of the Decade: 2000 (West Bank)

Liam Kennedy, the Director of the Clinton Institute, writes:

These photographs depict significant moments and events in the decade 2000-2009. The selection is not intended to denote the "best" news photographs but to provide a visual iconography of the period, one which may be suggestive as much for what it excludes as it includes.


All these photographs represent the macabre subject-matter that takes on iconic significance: death, destruction, and bodies in pain. With the passing of time, our viewing of these images may shift as their immediacy is displaced by narratives of recent history. For example, we may now see the image from 2000, depicting Palestinians attempting to escape tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers, as symbolic not only of the moment of the "Second Intifada" but of rippling violence and unrest within and well beyond that region through the decade.

These photographs also indicate some of the significant changes in visual media technologies during the decade. Photographs taken by camera-phones or re-mediated as frame grabs from videos are now commonly "newsworthy" and even iconic. Enabled by the technologies, much news imagery is now being produced by amateur photographers and "citizen journalists", a remarkable expansion of global capacities for visually documenting war, conflict and human rights abuses.

There are competing views on the effects of this increased flow of images. The more optimistic tend to argue that visual technologies have globalised human conscience, expanding our understanding of the human and of claims of the vulnerability of others. Pessimists point to continuing inequalities in media production and distribution and refer to a growing consumption of suffering and an accompanying "compassion fatigue".

At the heart of these differing perspectives is the issue of the ethical (and political) function of the image as a mode of evidentiary representation that bears witness to the suffering and degradation of others. That function is at issue in every one of these images. just as it was at issue in every one of the images recently emanating from Haiti.