THE MAD SONGS OF FERNADA HUSSEIN
Set in New Mexico during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, this remarkable, politically charged film has a social reach and intellectual depth unusual in American independent cinema. Filmmaker John Gianvito weaves his epic narrative around the effects of the war through a reverse lens, focusing on the war’s reverberations in America. Fernanda Hussein is a Mexican-American mother separated from her Arab husband whose children are targeted due to anti-Iraqi sentiments. Interwoven are two other stories, one following a teenage boy, adrift in his anger, struggling to find a way to affect change; the other, the story of a returning soldier indelibly marked by what he witnessed and participated in. Melding fiction and documentary techniques with a mainly non-professional cast, Gianvito’s deft handling of the dilemmas at the center of the film is both ambitious and deeply resonant, particularly in light of current events in the U.S. and the Middle East. This disk features the film The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein and concert footage of Iraqi musician Naseer Shamma. ABOUT THE DIRECTOR John Gianvito is a filmmaker, teacher, and curator based in Boston. His most recent film THE MAD SONGS OF FERNANDA HUSSEIN (2001), has received numerous awards. As a curator he programmed film for five years at the Harvard Film Archive, receiving a special commendation from the Boston Society of Film Critics for his programming and in 2001 was made a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. Currently he is an Adjunct Professor at Boston University, and editing a collection of interviews by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky. ABOUT THE MUSICIAN Since he started his professional career, Naseer Shamma has been composing his own music, performing the Oud in a manner which combines ancient methods with original compositions. Shamma is the only musician to have constructed an eight-string Oud or Lute following the manuscript of the famous 9th century music theorist Al-Farabi. This new design expanded the musical range of the Oud and gave it a distinct tonality. His innovations also include a new method of playing the Oud using one hand, allowing handicapped people to play and enjoy the instrument. He is one of the most esteemed and prolific musicians in the world. * Winner of the Jury Prize at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival; * Best Independent Film, Most Promising Actor (Thia Gonzales), and the first Rosa Luxemburg Prize at the New England Film/Video Festival; * Best Discovery Award by the Boston Society of Film Critics. * Listed as a Top Ten Film of the year by Jonathan Rosenbaum in The Chicago Reader, Gerald Peary in The Boston Phoenix, and Olaf Möller in Film Comment, and named by The Village Voice as one of the Top 10 Undistributed Films of 2001. “…the most passionately political American movie in many years.” - CinemaScope “Both a work of art and a critical piece of history, The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein is thoroughly engaging as a story and provocative as an examination of American values.” - Howard Zinn “With its careful compositions, stunning use of non-actors (all of them from New Mexico), and political gravitas, Mad Songs updates the socialactivist film with powerful results. Not since Salt of the Earth has a film made in New Mexico displayed such a strong sense of social conscience.” - Taos Talking Picture Festival catalog “…a powerful and moving act of bearing witness…I can’t think of many other American independent features in recent years that have mattered as much to me.” - Jonathan Rosenbaum
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