International Competition
Banu ◊ jp◊
- Onsite
- 7.18 (Tue) 13:50 Audio Visual Hall
- 7.22 (Sat) 11:00 Convention Hall
- Online
- 7.22 (Sat) 10:00 - 7.26 (Wed) 23:00
Accused of being an unfit mother by her influential husband, Banu fights for the custody of her son amid the chaos of the final days of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. She has four days to find a single voice to speak on her behalf.
©Katayoon Shahabi
Director: Tahmina RAFAELLA
Cast: Tahmina RAFAELLA, Melek ABBASZADEH, Kabira HASHIMLI, Jafar HASAN, Emin ASGAROV
2022 / Azerbaijan, Italy, France, Iran / 90min.
A mother searches for someone who will testify against her husband who used his power to forcefully take her son from her. The story unfolds in Azerbaijan, where many mothers actually lost their sons in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, which makes the film truly convincing. Banu, world-premiered at Venice last year, was selected for a project of Venice Biennale’s annual program, the Biennale College Cinema, in which Kohki Hasei participated in 2015 with his Blanka. Tahmina Rafaella, who intensely and sensitively expresses Banu’s abundant love for her son, also wrote the screenplay and makes her feature directorial debut. The high-tempo editing is the work of Mastaneh Mohajer, who has worked with Iranian directors Jafar Panahi and Hana Makhmalbaf.
Director: Tahmina RAFAELLA
Rafaella is an Azerbaijani filmmaker and actress. In 2015, she wrote Inner City, a feature film which was funded by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism of Azerbaijan. The film screened and won prizes at multiple international film festivals. Her directorial debut, A Woman (20), which she also wrote, produced and acted in, premiered at Palm Springs Short Fest. It won awards at numerous film festivals including Best Narrative Short at Bend Film Festival. Her feature script Banu (22) was selected as one of four to be produced by La Biennale as part of their Biennale College Cinema program. It had its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. Banu is her feature film directorial debut.
Message
I believe that now, more than ever, we need to create art that holds a mirror to our societies, and shows the destruction we’re causing to ourselves and to future generations. Even in the midst of a global pandemic, we’ve witnessed the rise of wars and hostilities among nations. At the root of it, what drives these wars and hatred is nationalism, a concept created and led by the driving force of the patriarchy. It is a vicious cycle that never ends, and we must do what we can to try to stop it.
