Sunday, July 30, 2006

Chinese Film Week

Day One: (which does not necessarily mean there will be a day 2 or 3)

We arrived a little before 7. The room was half full at that time, mostly Chinese (or East-Asians). More people started filling in and we continued waiting for the film to begin, or for someone to explain to us the reason for the delay. Organizers were nowhere to be found, not even to assist the newcomers into finding the few empty seats.

7:35 the show begins. Or so we thought. The presenter speaks in Arabic for an audience mostly made of non-Arabs. Then he translates his words to English. 6alib Arefa3ee speaks for another 5 or 10 minutes, no translation follows, then manager of cinema club, whose name I forgot, speaks for another 5 minutes. Presenter translates his speech into English. Chinese ambassador (or was it cultural attache?) speaks for yet another 5 minutes, with his speech interrupted occasionally by the cutest Arabic translation ever in an accent I almost never heard (Chinese reading Arabic amazes me. Why can't I read Chinese?). When that's done, we assume it's time for the movie. But no. Presenter speaks again.

At this time, 8 pm already, my sister and I decide to leave ... coz ... are you kidding me? You start late. You don't apologize for making your audience wait 35 minutes. Then you give your audience a sarcastic remark about their mobiles providing background music, totally inappropriate and a little bit demeaning. Regardless of the audience's lack of consideration in keeping their mobiles on, it is uncalled for when the presenter addresses this issue in such a sarcastic tone. Just tell our audience to please turn their mobiles off. I mean they've been patiently waiting for you for 35 minutes. Give them some courtesy.

So anyway, if you happened to watch the movie, fill me in :)
Details are found here.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

:( i did a lot of research on my special chinese and i wanted to go to see this special chinese! o my gay friend took me bas may3ref shay hatha ! wadany the other national council lol they have two, one in moshref o one in morgab, imagine going there dressed up and ready to enjoy staring at my heartbreaker all the way to moshref then what? la la la :) so does that mean ur not going next tuesday? oh :(

Jewaira said...

That's too bad!
I was going to go but ended up being lazy and leaving late.
Perhaps the next movies will not be so delayed because tonight was the opening so to speak?

AyyA said...

Hmmmmm and I thought I’d find a briefing here!

White Wings said...

what a disappointment and not very expected, usually these shows run a bit smoother, don't you think?

Delicately Realistic said...

Weeee 7asafa. 3ad i intended to go :/
Fill us in if more info comes ur way.

Fuzzy said...

i feel pitty whenever i hear a non-arab trying to speak arabic, i think its hard for them to learn the language, especially if its for non-religeos reasons.

just watching the news with anchors trying to say Hezb Allah

Khizboola heh

Chai-7aleeb said...

China will soon rule the World.

Hanan said...

anon. It's tuesday. It's 6:55 pm. so I guess I'm not going :)

jewaira. Yes I think the delay was probably due to it being the first day.

ayya. Sorry to disappoint you love.

white wings.Yes I believe they're usually on time or a few minutes late only.

dr.If you get the chance to go I hear Together is good.

fuzzy. I don't think it's pity what I felt. I was impressed actually.

chai-7aleeb. They already had their chance during the 9th century, didn't they? It's our time now.

Anonymous said...

aro7laha maro7laha aro7laha maro7laha aro7laha maro7laha aro7laha maro7laha :)

Shurouq said...

I'm going tonight and tomorrow night.

7ayyach

Anonymous said...

happy birthday, i wanted to say that in person, but....
wish u all the best

Caz said...

Welcome to Cinescape :)

barrak said...

بصراحه الافلام الصينيه فيها شي وايد محيرني
ليش لما يصورون اي فلم لازم الواحد لما يتهاوش يطير

mashael alhajeri said...

what film was it just curious..check out my blog might find it very very interesting...:):):

AyyA said...

inti wainich?
I missed u :*

shosho said...

Whatever happened to your book reviews/suggestions?

Ms. Sarah said...

lol ya7lailhum on opening night :p

and why is alzahmar so rude? is he that bored?

Ms. Sarah said...

lol ya7lailhum on opening night :p

and why is alzahmar so rude? is he that bored?

Hanan said...

shopa. aawwwwwwww. thank you :*

gq. welcome to my blog.

barrak. coz they can do magic :)

mashael. I will. and welcome here.

ayya. i was away on vacation. Missed you too love :*

shosho. like the court in kuwait. i'm on my summer break. will resume shortly.

swair. madry. some people are just rude by nature :) how are you girl?