Wild Card Wednesday - Aftab

I was really moved this morning watching the Theatre du Soleil documentary "Un Soleil a Kaboul- Ou Plutot Deux". Ariane Mnouchkine's troupe, fifty of them, decamped to Afghanistan against all odds for the summer of 2005 to lead a sequence of workshops with local theatre artists, in the hope of fostering - or renewing - a sense of artistry and cultural identity. Her braveness, sensitivity and good humour are pretty amazing to watch. But then, I am a big fan, and have drunk the Kool Aid (or perhaps the Sunny D?!).

What's impressive, too, is that Soleil have maintained links with their sister (daughter) company, and indeed several members of Theatre Aftab (Soleil in Dari!) were featured in the most recent Cartoucherie creation, Les Naufrages du Fol Espoir. Nice to see that the commitment and connection has lasted longer than just a summer abroad.

Check out the movie - it's superb.

Movie Monday - Babette's Feast

I had seen the cover of Babette's Feast for many years in the World Cinema section of HMV in Grafton Street (which I am terrified will close soon) but it was only at the insistence of one of my directing professors at UCLA that I finally found time to see it.

It's a strange, dark, magical little film - about a maid who cooks the most impossibly extravagant dinner imaginable for the village she lives in. Of course the philosophical perspective of the piece is a discussion of how the artist sacrifices everything for their work, and how everything is sublimated in deference to the moment of presentation. I found it extremely profound, and the ideas it stimulates resonated very long after I saw it.

Oh, and it won the Best Foreign Film Oscar. So you know it's good! ;)