ROYA AND OMID
The United Kingdom, 2006, 16 min
Elhum Shakerifar
29.01.2010 19:25
‘Roya and Omid’ is an exploration of transsexuality in Iran. Bardia, a young female-to-male transsexual reflects on his childhood spent in the wrong body, when he was known as Roya (‘dream’ in Persian), but wished to be Omid (‘hope’ in Persian). His narrative is crossed the insightful comments of several male-to-female transsexuals in Iran – Donya, Handry, Leila and Shirin, who have to endure the daily scorn of society in their new roles as women.
Language of dialogues: Persian, English
Language of subtitles: English
Salaam Aleykum Copenhagen is a short documentary about Haluk, Allan and Iman – two young boys and a girl with Turkish, Kurdish, Lebanese and Danish backgrounds living in Copenhagen. How do they confront their lives with the atmosphere of Copenhagen, their home? The film is a portrait of their attitudes towards the questions of immigration and integration, their daily problems and challenges, family values, their view on Danish society and Copenhagen itself. While presenting their worlds they are opening the doors towards understanding of Copenhagen itself. They are part of Copenhagen and Copenhagen is part of them.
Lal, a remote bazaar surrounded by the high mountains of the Western Hindu Kush in Central Afghanistan, struggles to find peace after more than 30 years of war. Everyday life in these harsch wintery surroundings don't seem to leave much space to deal with the new situation. Former Mujaheddin Commanders, religious leaders and newly elected state officials each have their respective views of this new system called 'democracy'. In this film these different actors tell us about their past, explain their respective views on the democratic changes and reveal their individual expectations for the future.