Name: Vive la mariée... et la libération du Kurdistan
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1998-06-03
Duration: 1 h 36 min
Rating: 5.8
Cast: Georges Corraface, Marina Kobakhidze, Fatah Soltani

Famous Kurdish director Hiner Saleem. Saleem has four feature films. These are "Long Live the Bride-Liberation of Kurdistan" (1997), "Beyond Our Dreams", "Vodka-Lemon" (2003) and "Zero Kilometre" (2005). Also he is completed his latest feature recently, which is titled "The Drum-2006".

In particular, Saleem's two films, 'Vodka Lemon' and 'Kilometre Zero' have drawn international attention at film festivals including Cannes. I did not have a chance to watch his last two films, 'Kilometre Zero', 'The Drum' and his earlier film 'Beyond Our Dreams'. For this reason I cannot make any comment on them yet.

However I did watch "Long Live the Bride-Liberation of Kurdistan" on SBS TV in Australia a few years ago. So I'll be talking about this film which is a mixture of political satire and comedy. It reflects the life of Kurdish migrants living in France.

The film's main languages are French and Kurdish although French weighs more. In the film, Ceto, a Kurdish migrant, chooses a beautiful Kurdish girl from her video image to bring her to France to marry. Interestingly, the arriving girl happened to be to some extent "ugly" Mina, the sister of the girl Ceto had been chosen. Film develops around this idea, at the end Mina comes out to be a very beautiful girl but for Ceto, now fall-in-love with Mina, it is too late for everything.

"Long Live the BrideLiberation of Kurdistan" takes place in France, though there is some images from Kurdistan. However the topic is the life of Kurdish migrant in France and the director is Kurdish, because of its considerable French language, I can not easily classify this film as a "Kurdish film". It lacks, from my perspective at least, the most important element of Kurdish film, namely the Kurdish language.

The other point is that, the film is shot from a Kurdish-French perspective not a pure 'Kurdish' perspective, though I do not suggest that it is not part of Kurdish Cinema movement. When I make that statement I'm aware of the fact that "Long Live the BrideLiberation of Kurdistan" has created by a Kurdish director living in Diasporas, and set in France not in Kurdistan. It looked to me more a France film (could be French too) about Kurdish migrant living in Paris than a Kurdish film about Kurds. To some extent I felt uneasy watching Saleem's portrayal of Kurdish characters in "Long Live the Bride", I'll try to explain my uneasiness in detail below.

By saying that I do not deny Saleem's films' "Kurdisness", as I said I'm only talking about the specific film here, nevertheless I do not see his films as Kurdish as Ghobadi's films. Besides, although the director is not Kurdish, Samira Makmalbaf's "Blackboards" (2000) looks to me more Kurdish than Saleem's "Long Live the Bride" not just because of it's topic but also because of its language.

Samira's "Blackboards", thanks to its style and topic, language and location, the film is an insider's look to Kurds' plight following Halabja massacre in 1988. To me, "Blackboards" is all about Kurds and Kurdistan, it is shot from Kurdish perspective and especially noteworthy is the scene in which an old man asks a teacher to read the letter he got from his sons. Neither the old man nor the teacher would be able to read the letter because they do not know whether it is written in Turkish, in Arabic or in Farsi.

Nonetheless, I should state that in terms of representing Kurdish identity and culture, the plights of Kurds and reflecting the life in Kurdistan, Ghobadi is far ahead than other Kurdish directors." devrim kilic editor in chief www.kurdishcinema.org

French-language cinema, whether in France, Québec, or other Francophone regions, explores cultural identity, social change, and the tension between the individual and society. French cinema is not only celebrated for its intellectual experimentation and auteur traditions, but also its success in mainstream comedy, romance, and commercial entertainment. In Québec, films often focus on questions of language, belonging, and community within a distinct cultural landscape.

Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows (1959)

The comedy genre refers to a category of entertainment that aims to amuse and entertain audiences by using humor, wit, and comedic situations. Comedies are created with the primary intention of eliciting laughter and providing lighthearted enjoyment. They encompass a wide range of styles, tones, and themes, appealing to various tastes and audiences.

Will Ferrell, Angela Grillo, and Lap-Gei Cheung in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Vive la mariée... et la libération du Kurdistan

Cheto is a Kurdish political refugee living in Paris. Despite his relations with a Frenchwoman, Christine, his goal was to marry a virgin and patriotic Kurd.

Vive la mariée... et la libération du Kurdistan (1998)

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Vive la mariée... et la libération du Kurdistan

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