Not so subtle: Iran's International Urban Film Festival to Screen TWENTY Katrina films

Press TV is reporting that Iran's third International Urban Film Festival, which runs from March 2 to March 7, will include 20 films on Hurricane Katrina, including Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke, Ashley Hunt's I Won't Drown on the Levees and "controversial filmmaker Scott Ritter's Bush Crimes: Hurricane Katrina, which is about the Bush Crimes Commission Hearings and the testimony by experts on the abandonment of New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina."

We all know that Hurricane Katrina was not a high-point for America's image abroad (also, see here), but 20 films on how bad the Bush administration goofed up seems a bit, I don't know, obsessive? Also, very depressing.

I like to take moments like this and think about what would happen if the reverse were to take place. What if an American film festival decided to showcase 20 or so documentaries on how, according to the UN, Iran is the "sixth most disaster-prone country in the world," and that, "for the past 10 years, an average of 4,000 people have been killed and 55,000 affected annually by disaster?" Ouch. Now that I think about it, maybe there should be a few films produced on how there is the equivalent of a humanitarian 9/11 in Iran every year and nobody is really talking about it. Given Javad Shamaqdari's (Special Adviser to President Ahmadinejad) recent demand for an apology for the way films like 300 (where "Persians are depicted as decadent, sexually flamboyant and evil") and The Wrestler (where Mickey Rourke battles another wrestler named--also not so subtly--The Ayatollah) are "insulting to Iranians," I can only imagine the outcry that would take place if American filmmakers shined their collective spotlights on humanitarian failures of the Iranian government.

Russia Today as Cultural Diplomacy (aka Adventures in Bingerle)

Daily RT posts a new interesting fact about Russian culture or history in it's Russia Now section.  This comes from the March 3rd entry about Emperor Alexander II: 

I believe I have shown you, by coming to see you twice, despite your sulking... you know perfectly well what the only reason for it is and you cannot dare to doubt the being who belongs to you body and soul and who only breathes through you," one letter from Alexander reads. 

"I saw in your eyes that you wanted to throw yourself on me to forget everything and enjoy our 'bingerle'," he continues, using the word ‘bingerle’ as their secret code for ‘love making.'

This quote comes from RT's brief bio of Alexander II, aka “the Liberator” of the Russian Empire, who came to power on March 3 1855.  While I do not question the importance/relevance of 'the Liberator's proclivity to bingerle, it is interesting that RT chooses to use its limited space (three paragraphs at most) to recite snippets of one of Alexander's love letters to his mistress.  RT's Russia Now section is designed to pique foreigner's interest in Russia.  This is certainly one way to do so.

Russia Now also includes links to information about Russian history, geography, cuisine, literature, nightlife and travel.  The expanding database of all things Russia is testament to RT's long-term goal of educating foreign publics about Russia past and present.  Some of my favorite posts include:

• The official RT top ten list of Russian vodkas.
• An amazing collection of Russian literature.  Many great works of Russian literature, from authors such as Dostoevsky and Chekhov, are available in full-text and translated in English.
• And last but certainly not least.  The first sentence from the sections' overview, "A vast snow-clad country, the native land of vodka, bears and the KGB: myths about Russia seem to be an integral part of its image."  At least they identify some of the major stereotypes placed on Russians.