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A
sample of the festival’s statue award.
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By
Damir Ahmad, IOL Correspondent
MOSCOW,
May 17, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The republic of Tatarstan hosts
next September the first movie festival for Muslim countries, which
will highlight the up-to-date cinema industry in the Muslim world and
the values and morals of Muslims.
The
festival, entitled “The Golden Pulpit,” will feature some 60
documentaries and fiction films in addition to a number of animated
movies from up to 20 Muslim countries around the globe.
The
carnival’s executive director, Mamirov Mokhtar, said the festival
will be sponsored by Russia’s Ifta Council, Al-Alem Al-Islami
(Islamic world) Russian satellite channel, the culture ministry of Tatarstan and Kazan’s
local administration with the full backing of Tatarstan’s President
Mintimer Shaimiev.
Countries
that will take part in the festival include Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco,
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran and
Bahrain.
The
jury is made up of famous artists and filmmakers mainly from Egypt and
Syria.
Highlighting
Islam
Mokhtar
said the festival strikes a balance between religion and life, which
is manifested in the variety of movies.
“But
it is mainly focused on clearing misconceptions formed on Islam and
Muslims in the eyes of the Europeans as we will screen movies on
Islam’s morals and values,” he told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, May
17.
Mokhtar
said that the movie festival also marks the 1000th
anniversary of the establishment of the capital city of Kazan.
Murat
Abdel Kadir, director of the festival’s press office, said the
movies will turn the spotlight on Islam’s cultural and artistic
sides and the cinema industry in the Muslim world.
“The
movies will also get the people acquainted with the real and noble
Arab and Islamic traditions, which have been much stereotyped over the
past years,” Abdel Kadir told IOL.
The
festival’s animated movies section will mainly feature movies that
narrate the life stories of Muslim figures who made history, chiefly
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his companions.
The
Iranian documentary “Adam’s Sons” is one of the top-notch movies
along with Egypt’s “His Excellency the Minister” and “L’
Immigrant”.
Money
awards and gold-plated statutes are allocated to the best documentary,
best movie, best animated movie, best actor and actress, best
screenplay and best director.
Cinemagoers
will further have their say on the most-appealing movie through a
survey.
