The collected work known as "One Thousand and One Nights" survived for centuries through generations of Arab storytellers, and is now recognized as an integral part of world literature. In this filmed performance, storyteller/filmmaker Nacer Khemir sits on chair in the middle of a dimly lit stage and deploys the magic of words to take us on a journey of the imagination. This simple set-up may not seem like much, but it offers the listener an extraordinarily colorful experience and brilliantly emphasizes the oral nature of the work. As we listen to the expertly told stories, we are equally charmed by their intricacies and entranced by their interconnectedness. Even though Khemir illustrates some of the stories with beautifully filmed sequences, the audience's ability to listen is paramount here. Sheherazade used words to avoid impending death, Khemir uses the art of storytelling to breathe a new life into this ancient masterwork.
After completing his voyages Sindbad the Sailor and his hearty crew have come home to find a palace coup d'etat has occurred and his home city is being run by a brutal dictator played by Pedro Armendariz.
Legendary secrets are revealed as Aladdin and his friends—Jasmine, Abu, Carpet and, of course, the always entertaining Genie—face all sorts of terrifying threats and make some exciting last-minute escapes pursuing the King Of Thieves and his villainous crew.
The sailor of legend is framed by the goddess Eris for the theft of the Book of Peace, and must travel to her realm at the end of the world to retrieve it and save the life of his childhood friend Prince Proteus.
Sinbad and his crew intercept a homunculus carrying a golden tablet. Koura, the creator of the homunculus and practitioner of evil magic, wants the tablet back and pursues Sinbad.
When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.
A lord’s servant, Ali Baba, is sent to retrieve a slave for his master, but ends up on an adventure filled with gold, mischief, love, and forty famous thieves instead.
An emir wants revenge on a secretary who posed as a rival to a beautiful woman. He holds in his palace which refers to himself as a trap, the wife of the secretary, and thinks of becoming her lover.
Presented in the form of a feverish love dream, 1001 Nights is the first and only installment of the ground-breaking "Filmharmonic" project, which presents original compositions created by pairs of A-list film composers and directors.
To win the celebrity and self-made wealth he craves, an aimless, twenty-something Manhattan playboy devises a film based on his party-boy, club-going lifestyle, and hires a self-destructive aspiring playwright to ghost the feature script.
It's official; class is back! Riots on the street, old-Etonians in government, a workforce on strike, "Downton Abbey", "The King's Speech", the royal wedding and vajazzling.
When Nina Patel is nominated to represent her eighth grade class at Homecoming, she's thrilled. However, Nina's traditional Indian parents refuse to let her assimilate to such an American tradition.
Henry is a grouchy, irritable and overall unhappy birthday clown. As he complains about everything, he realizes 8-year-old birthday girl Coral has a frown just as long as his.
There's a new teacher in town—Spelunker! This unusual man is anything but a typical instructor, giving speeches about traffic safety to the students, reacting strangely to a humidifier, and enjoying lunch— albeit with ample condiment mishaps.
A Mexican boy bound for Chicago tries to cross the border, but is the crowded wagon he rides in going the right way? An offbeat, allegorical odyssey that blends absurd humor with pastoral imagery.
Comments
Have you watched Sheherazade: Words Against Death yet? What did you think about it?
