News and Analysis on Islam in Europe and North America
“Five Years” examines the fate of the German Guantanamo prisoner Murat Kurnaz. Director Stefan Schaller’s film exposes viewers to the horrific abuse of human rights endured by camp detainees. Jochen Kürten reports Cinema has always tended to embroil itself in current politics. While there is no standard formula for the genre of political cinema, the
18.02.2012 The Turkish Muslim community in the city of Volklingen celebrated the completion of the first minaret in the federal state of Saarland last week. The plans to build a minaret on top of the Selimiye Mosque, a former cinema, had divided Volklingen’s population last year. While the argument was reminiscent of the ban of
At the Oscars last month the gap between what interests Hollywood and what the rest of the world seems to be doing was sharp and clear. Of the five nominees for the best foreign-language film, all but one, among them the winner, “In a Better World,” from Denmark, dealt in some way with relationships between
The German drama “Die Fremde” (“When we leave”) portrays the subject of honour killings in a Turkish German family. Up-and-coming actress Sibel Kekilli, a Turkish German herself, acts the part of Umay, who grows up in Berlin and gets married to a Turkish man in Istanbul. When Umay escapes the brutal relationship and flees to
The city of Naples is hosting a film festival featuring short films, documentaries, cartoons, and women’s films from Morocco. The festival is also organizing debates, book readings, talks, musical events, food sampling, and other exhibitions related to Morocco and Moroccan culture. Four main sections divide the festival – women’s cinema, documentaries, fiction, and Berber cinema.