A crescent moon over Prague. 14th year of the cultural Middle East festival
A crescent moon over Prague
14th year of the cultural Middle East festival
23-29 November 2022
Prague and Pilsen
The name of the festival was inspired by a collection of love verses and confessions of the Prague poet Charif Bahbouh.
The festival is organized by: Komba, zs
With the support of grants from the City of Prague and the State Culture Fund
Cooperation: Arab group of embassies accredited in the Czech Republic (Morocco, Kuwait, Yemen, Iraq, Palestine), City Library in Prague, Dar Ibn Rushd publishing house, Middle East Department of the Faculty of Economics of the UK
Program:
PRAGUE
Wednesday, November 23
17.00 Municipal Library in Prague, Mariánské nám. 98/1
CEREMONIAL OPENING OF THE FESTIVAL
Singing competition in Arabic. Music and dance performances: Marwan Alsolaiman and Kristýna Farag, Kat Bent Amor and Sharif Khlief, Sahar. Moderated by František Ondráš and Adam Pospíšil.
Free entry. In Czech and Arabic. https://www.mlp.cz/cz/
Thursday, November 24
Na Prádle Theatre, Besední 3, Prague 1
18.00 Small scene
MODERN EMIRATES STORIES
Reading and presentation of the first ever Czech edition of short stories from the UAE. In cooperation with the Dar Ibn Rushd publishing house and with the participation of female and male translators. Moderated by František Ondráš.
Free entry. In Czech.
19.30 Big scene
MUSTAFA TAJUDDIN AL-MUSA THE SERVANT AND THE FAMILY OF POETS
Theatrical premiere of the Arab non-theatre of the students of the Department of Middle East FFUK
“Oh, I’ve been here for a year and two months!” the maid laments as she watches the strange family of poets doing things in an inhospitable, depersonalized town. Tormented by the constant recitation of poetry, we write letters to our grandfather, the only connection to our beloved home. A nostalgic sigh at the loss of rural purity from a young Syrian playwright is part absurdist drama, light conversational comedy and at times wrenching horror. The actors and actresses of the Arab non-theatre of the students of the Middle East Department of FFUK will capture all the positions in their new production from one Arab kitchen.
In Arabic with Czech subtitles. Entrance fee CZK 200 and CZK 150. Reservation: http://www.napradle.cz/
Friday, November 25
Kolowrat Theatre, Fruit Market 579/6
19:00 – MUSTAFA TAJUDDIN AL-MUSA THE FRIEND OF THE WINDOW
The premiere of the staged reading of the play and an online meeting with the playwright.
An orphaned and lonely young woman leaves her native village for the city to escape social pressures and start a new life as a teacher. She finds refuge with kind relatives, but her life is fatally affected by the image of a mysterious man hanging on the wall of her new room… Theatrical play, awarded the Sharjah Emirate Literary Prize in 2017, tells the story of the vulnerability of a sensitive soul that finds it difficult to live with its surroundings, and the destructiveness of loneliness .
Translation by Petr Felčer. Directed by Jakub Šmíd. Starring: Anežka Šťastná, Kristýna Dámová, Petr Pochop, Jakub Šmíd
In Czech. Entrance fee CZK 200 and CZK 150 on the spot.
Saturday, November 26
Theater Na zábradlí, Anenské nám. 5, Prague 1
15.00 Eliad’s library
NIYAZ ESMAILPOUR PARADISE LOST
A play.
Directed and interpreted by Morvarid Ramezani.
Translation from Persian to English: Lída Fathi. Translation into Czech: Vít Paulíček.
The story of a woman who longs for a child. She is 40 years old and she doesn’t want to be with a man just to have a child, she wants someone to love and start a family with him… this passion for a child causes her a big problem and now she tells what happened, why I found myself in prison…
In Persian with Czech subtitles.
In Persian with Czech subtitles.
16.00 Rehearsal room
MARYAM HEIDARI
A meeting with an author from Iran and a scenic reading of excerpts from her books.
Hosted by Zeina Kanawati. Eva Vrbková reads.
In English with interpretation into Czech.
17.00 Rehearsal room
VOICES OF INDOMITABLE WOMEN
A reading from the book Samar Jazbik, published this fall by Edition N, in which the Syrian author wrote the testimonies of nineteen women who participated in the Syrian uprising in 2011 for various reasons. Moderated by Zeina Kanawati, associate of Women Now, founded by the author of the book Samar Jazbik, and translator Petr Felčer. Read by Eva Vrbková and Zeina Kanawati.
In Arabic and Czech.
18.00 Eliad’s library
RAINBOW MUNICIPALITIES
An autobiographical play written by Azadeh Kangarani.
The stories Azadeh tells resonate with the stories of many migrants and refugees around the world. Azadeh has moved three times in her life. First from his native Iran to Dubai in the Middle East, then to the Czech Republic in Europe and finally to the USA. If this is her last migration! It describes how integration in its last host country, the US, has been affected by contemporary crimes against humanity by the Islamic Republic of Iran. He compares the nation to a rainbow that consists of individual colors like the citizens of the country. Each color on its own, but the rainbow as a whole gives each color a stronger identity. Neither the entire rainbow nor each individual color is complete without the other.
In English with Czech subtitles.
Entrance fee: CZK 200 to CZK 150. The ticket is valid for the entire program. Reservation: www.nazabradli.cz
Sunday, November 27
18:00 Kolowrat Theatre, Fruit Market 579/6
DAWN BETWEEN THE LINES
A staged band of literary demonstrations of translations of modern Persian literature presented by Czech Iranists, students of the Middle East Department of FFUK, their teachers and Iranian friends.
What themes resonated in society before the Islamic revolution, during the war with Iraq, and today? What do female authors write about, what is taboo in contemporary writing, what are the tools of censorship? Persian literature, its strength and weaknesses. A subtly dramatic whirlwind with an attempt
o audio-visual podcast.
But Persian will not be missing in Czech!
19.30 NARGES HASHEMPOUR
A lecture by an Iranian director and author about the role of theater in the changes of society, combined with a debate, which will be presented by Zuzana Kříhová.
In Persian with interpretation into Czech.
Entrance fee for the entire program: CZK 200 and CZK 150.
PILSEN
SUNDAY 29/11
17.00 Study and research library – Education center, Smetanovy sady 2
NARGES HASHEMPOUR, MERYAM HEIDARI AND ZUZANA KRÍHOVÁ
A meeting with Iranian authors and a Czech Iranian woman about contemporary literature and theater and the role of women in art and society.
Free entry. In Persian with interpretation into Czech.
Festival guests:
Mustafa Tajuddin al-Musa is a Syrian short story writer, playwright and journalist from Idlib, a graduate of media studies at Damascus University. His short stories and plays won several Arab and international prizes. A number of them are referred to as black comedy and in recent years have enjoyed great popularity among Arab and international readers. Since 2014, the writer has been living as a refugee in Turkey and works, among other things, as a cultural editor on Syrian television stations broadcasting from Turkey.
Meryam Heidari she is a poet, translator and journalist. Iranian Arab woman from Khuzestan province in Iran. She translates from Arabic into Persian important Arab poets, such as Mahmud Darwish and Sargon Boulus, and is also a translator of many Persian and Afghan poets and travel books into Arabic. She is the author of the collection Bab Muareb (A Door Ajar) and recipient of the prestigious Ibn Battuta Award 2018. She is the editor-in-chief of Raseef 22, Beirut’s leading magazine on art, literature, history and politics. He lives and works in Tehran.
Narges Hashempour she is a scientist, actress, director, writer, curator and dramaturg. Since 1991, he has been participating in various international theater projects and festivals in Iran, Germany, Sweden, Belgium. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Gordan-Kosanovic-Prize, already awarded in 2001 by the Theater ad Ruhr in Mühlheim. She is the author of a dissertation entitled “Traditional and Modern: Iranian Theater Culture and Gender Performance” at the Freie Universität Berlin (2009-2012). He is also an associate member of “IZ Geschlechterforschung” at the Freie Universität Berlin (2011), a member of the International Research Training Group InterArt Studies (2007) and Iran Theater House (1999). As part of your research project, focus, for example, on the investigation of the current form of female acting and femininity on stage.