Big Dance for Waltz with Bashir? [Update: No]

The much-celebrated, must-see animated documentary Waltz with Bashir--an Israeli film by Ari Folman about one man's journey to reconstruct his memory of war--is expected to land the honour of Best Foreign-Language Film at tonight's Oscar bash, the 81st Academy Awards.

On its way to the Oscars, Waltz with Bashir has picked up the U.S. Writer's Guild award for Best Documentary, Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes, and Best Picture by the U.S. Society of Film Critics (a tough bunch to impress). It also won 6 Israeli Ophir awards (the Israeli Academy Awards).

Despite its surface topic--the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and Israel's oversight of the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla--the film was received well and thoughtfully in Israel.

The Tuque Souq enthusiastically gives it 2 thumbs up (though I'm still of two minds about the stylistic decision made at the end of the film, which I won't spoil), and highly recommends pairing the film with the legendary narrative journey into a memory of the Lebanon War, Mahmoud Darwish's Memory for Forgetfulness--a classic and unforgettable book!

Waltz with Bashir is Israeli cinema's eighth nomination for Best Foreign-Language Film; the previous seven all came up short, including Joseph Cedar's Beaufort last year (a film also about the Lebanon War).

Only 1 Arab or Middle Eastern film has ever won even half of this award: the Academy considers Z, the 1969 winner for Best Foreign-Language Film, a French/Algerian film. Algeria has had 3 other nominations. Iran (Children of Heaven; 1998) and Palestine (Paradise Now; 2005) have had 1 each.

[Oscar Update 1: Waltz with Bashir did not win at tonight's Oscars. Um, I hope I didn't jinx it.]

[Oscar Update 2: Yes, Philip Seymour Hoffman was wearing a tuque tonight. More on this development as it develops.]

Arabian Nights update

An update from an earlier post... Oxford's Arabic literature guru Geert Jan van Gelder has an article in the latest Times of London Literary Supplement on the new translation of Arabian Nights, with more analysis on the history of English-language translations.

“Three English translations from the Arabic appeared in the course of the nineteenth century. Edward William Lane, a good Arabist, produced a version in 1839 that was acceptable to a Victorian readership, which meant that he had to omit a fair number of stories, passages and poems.

“More complete was the version by John Payne (1882–4), which was soon overshadowed, and to some extent plagiarized, by that of Richard Burton (1885–8), a translation as eccentric as Burton himself. His obsession with matters of sex and eroticism (he also put his name to a translation of the Kama Sutra) is obvious not only from his copious notes, but also from the translation itself; Burton’s wife Isobel saw to it that an expurgated version was published for a general readership.

“Burton’s language, too, is eccentric and pretty unreadable, such that a not unlikely title might be 'The Shroff who Futtered his Cadette with the Two Coyntes.' Such words may be useful for players of Scrabble; modern readers deserve something better.” [MORE]

New dawn for 'One Thousand and One Nights'

Pop quiz - which of the following stories is an original tale of the famed collection of medieval Persian fables, originally scribed in Arabic
الف ليلة و ليلة (One Thousand and One Nights)?

A) Aladdin's Lamp
B) The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor
C) Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
D) The Three Apples
E) All of the above

The answer is D*. Not among the original Arabic manuscripts, dating in fragments from as early as the 9th century, will you find the popular stories about Aladdin or Ali Baba or Sindbad sailing the seven seas. Those were added in the early 18th century by the inventive French writer Antoine Galland, who based them on contemporary folk tales he'd heard around the cafes of Aleppo.

Galland's translation of (and especially his additions to) the collection of medieval Persian stories, published under the title Les Mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français, was immensely popular in Europe. It was not until the late 19th century that a credible English translation was produced, that of the astute Sir Richard Francis Burton. This longstanding English-language version has come by a number of names, including Arabian Nights and Tales from the 1001 Nights, etc.

Now, for the first time in more than a century, a new English translation has been made. SOAS scholar Hugh Kennedy wrote this detailed review of the new English edition of One Thousand and One Nights by Malcolm and Ursula Lyons, including a lot of the intricate history of the collection of tales.

The three-volume set contains nearly 3000 pages of all of the original 1001 stories, translated from their most complete Arabic version, with plenty of notes. And yes, it also contains Galland's inventions.

* The Three Apples is a gripping murder mystery in which, among other twists, the hero sleuth must solve the case in 3 days or else the Sultan will kill him.

New museum of Islamic Art opens in Qatar

Qatar's new museum of Islamic Art is a treasure of treasures.

The $300-million project, designed by I.M. Pei (he of the Louvre's pyramid), was built on a man-made island off of Doha's busy commercial harbour.

What a great idea for a giant blocky monstrosity of modern architecture: put it out on the water, just like Sydney did with the Opera House, and what Toronto didn't do with the ROM.

[Click here for an audio-photo tour of the Doha museum.]

Hezbollah, Jay-C 'n Naked Barbie (& other updates from the art scene)

ROUNDUP OF NEWS FROM THE ARAB WORLD ART SCENE:
A gallery in Beirut dismantled a photography exhibit by renowned Lebanese artist Jocelyne Saab, well after her show had been well-received by local critics. Among her latest works were photographs that featured the likenesses of Jesus Christ, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, and (sometimes topless) Barbie dolls. Oddly enough, no complaint was issued by Hezbollah.

Lebanese-British author, artist and fashion designer Rana Salam's new book, The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie, needs no further introduction. But you can read more about it at the Los Angeles Times' oft-good blog, Babylon and Beyond.

The brand new Contemporary Art Museum - Artsawa - opened in Dubai; with over 3,000 linear feet of display wall space, it is said to be the new hub of contemporary art in the Gulf.

Tunisia's most famous painter and spokesman for the arts, octogenarian Zoubeir Turki, was granted the November 7 Prize by President Zine el-Abidine ben Ali. One of Tunisia's highest cultural honours, the prize is named for the November 7, 1987 bloodless coup during which ben Ali "retired" his predecessor, the father of modern Tunisia Habib Bourguiba.

Finally, fresh off our blitz of hugely successful Toronto Palestine Film Festival, the Tuque Souq stumbled upon this great resource: The Palestine Film Foundation now has an online synopsis archive of many, many dozens of Palestinian feature films and documentaries. Enjoy.