OSAMA

Every first and third Thursday of the month, the KZNSA Gallery lawn transforms into a picnic theatre with a selection of international art-house, classic, foreign, experimental and generally interesting films.

Supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, this project offers an eclectic mix of memorable films from across space and time for those who have a taste for the alternative.

The current season is titled Girlhood and the Middle East. Entering the realm of womanhood is a complex, difficult and deeply personal experience for adolescent girls universally, if diversely. While the experience is deeply private, leaving girlhood carries with it the weight of entering into the adult world of the social order and social roles which are simultaneously very public. In regions such as Iran and Afghanistan, where the two films in this theme are located, the bodies of women are defined and limited in ways that are different to those experienced in a more westernised space that has a history of emancipatory feminist politics. These two films unravel, in quite different ways, the intimacies of blossoming femininity against a backdrop of the Middle East.

The film to be seen on May 5 will be Osama directed by Siddiq Barmak in 2003 in Afghanistan. A 12-year-old Afghan girl and her mother lose their jobs when the Taliban closes the hospital where they work. The Taliban have also forbidden women to leave their houses without a male "legal companion." With her husband and brother dead, killed in battle, there is no-ne left to support the family. Without being able to leave the house, the mother is left with nowhere to turn. Feeling that she has no other choice, she disguises her daughter as a boy. Now called 'Osama,' the girl embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey as she tries to keep the Taliban from finding out her true identity.

Inspired by a true story, Osama is the first entirely Afghan film shot since the fall of the Taliban. Harrowing and moving, this promises to be an unmissable piece of cinema.

Bring blankets, snacks and vino, and relive the era of the drive-in as the screen flickers under the starry sky. If the temperamental Durban weather threatens to rain on the parade, the screening will move inside to the tiered café seating. Entrance is free of charge. However, a collection box will be passed around at the screenings for those who wish to place a donation in order to cover running costs incurred by the KZNSA. The KZNSA Gallery is situated at 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood. For further information, please contact Sarah Dawson on 083 777 1130 or email: sarahandmiffy@gmail.com