In collaboration with a local association Couleurs Cactus, Reel Festivals is very happy to be hosting a mini-festival in Marseille, France. The “De Baghdad à Marseille – une rencontre poétique” takes place in the Cinema Les Varietes on Thursday 25th of June. The evening’s programme consists of the film “Zaman, the Man from the Reeds” by Amer Alwan, who will be present at the screening, and two short documentaries “Le sourire de Pouchen” and “L’eau des Maadans”. The short films were made as part of Alterdoc’s (a local audiovisual association) video workshops in Iraqi Kurdistan. Pascal Cesaro from Alterdoc will be present to talk about the workshops. The evening also opens a photography exhibition of Kurdish photographer Jamal Penjweny and Jean-Marie Plume, a local photographer who has worked in Iraq. The exhibition will continue during Aflam’s (an association of Arab Film in Marseille  – another partner for the event) season of new Arab film. Reel Festivals and Couleurs Cactus both hope that this cultural co-operation between Edinburgh and Marseille will continue also next year.

Meanwhile in Edinburgh don’t forget that we will be hosting Creativity VS Destruction: Stories of Iraqi Art from the 2nd of July  to the 12th every day from 12 to 4 at the Roxy Art House, 2 Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9SU. This is the first exhibition of Iraqi Visual Artists in Scotland. Please come along to the opening from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Thursday the 2nd of July at the main hall of the Roxy Art House. The highly regarded Kurdish-Iraqi artist Adalet Garmiany will be present to enact his specially commissioned performance, ‘Placeless’ which explores the experience of exile and occupation of homeland. After Adalet’s performance a selection of rarely heard contemporary and experimental Iraqi music will be played and work by internationally respected artists such as Wafaa Bilal, Sama Alshaibi, Hanaa MalAllah, Rashad Selim and Adalet Garmiany will all be on view. For more information please click here.