NILOFAR IN THE RAIN

SUNDAY 2 NOVEMBER AT 5:10PM UGC SHAFTESBURY AVE SCREEN 1

Country Afghanistan Running Time 97 mins Format 35mm Director/Prod/S'play Homayoun Karimpour DoP Noor Hashim Abir Cast Mamnoun Maqsoudi, Afrouz Nikzad, Qader Farokh, Niki Zischka, Maimouna Ghezal Print Source Homayoun Karimpour E homkari@aol.com

Shapour is a gentle, trusting Afghani refugee living in Paris, and searching for love. He finds a beautiful Afghan girl, but their marriage is destroyed by her overbearing father. Brokenhearted, Shapour is weak and despairing until a chance encounter on a train brings him new love.

Although it begins like a fairy tale, the film descends into gritty real life as the characters reveal their flaws and grow disillusioned. It's full of sharp plot twists, yet also has a mature emotional coherence: Maqsoudi gives a charismatic, moving performance as the dreamy idealist Shapour and Kikzad is excellent as his captivating but shallow wife Nilofar. They make perfect players in this story of faltering love in a lonely exiled community. Shot in striking sepia tones in Paris and Pakistan, Nilofar is bold and imaginative - dreams, hopes and memories are interwoven in the plot in a style that is sometimes surreal and always inventive.

Given the circumstances of production, Nilofar is a triumph. With controlled and expert central performances, it is an ambitious film of profundity and grace. It is also a rare chance to see the emotional lives of ordinary Afghani people portrayed with no political agenda. HE

Homayoun Karimpour was born and educated in Kabul. He left Afghanistan in 1979. In 1999 after learning that a number of Afghan actors who had fled the Taliban regime were living in Pakistan, he went there and made Nilofar, with little means and in virtual secrecy. He writes short stories and screenplays and has directed two shorts.