SFFS Presents: 'Qarantina' April 3, 2012

The Film Society’s Artist in Residence program brings an international filmmaker to San Francisco for a two-week residency. Iraqi filmmaker Oday Rasheed will present his drama 'Qarantina', network with local filmmakers and visit Bay Area high school and college classrooms.

A broken family under patriarch Salih lives uneasily within the gated courtyard of a dilapidated house in Baghdad. Meriam, Salih’s daughter, has fallen silent, refusing to tell her father what’s wrong. Salih’s young second wife, Kerima, and his preteen son, Muhanad, provide Meriam with some protection from her father. Meanwhile, with the family hard up for money, Muhanad must work in the street shining shoes and, more ominously, the entire household must cohabitate with a sullen and imperious boarder, a man who works as a hired killer and has taken Kerima as his mistress. In 'Qarantina' Rasheed gorgeously captures today’s Baghdad, a moody and colorful place in the grip of a brooding listlessness. This stunned atmosphere is furthered by the performances of the formidable cast, who suggest unexpected sources of resilience in the wake of catastrophe.

Director Oday Rasheed in person.

Official Website: http://sffs.org/content.aspx?catid=928,942&pageid=2800