Arabian Nights
A Journey into Arab Cinema

February 1 - 27, 2013

Pera Film parallel to Pera Museum’s temporary exhibition Between Desert and Sea: A Selection from the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts presents “Arabian Nights: A Journey into Arab Cinema.” The program includes the 1975 Palme d’Or Winner at Cannes Film Festival, Chronicle of the Year of Embers as well as important classics from the 1960s, 70s, 80s, as well as recent productions. The ten film selection of fiction and documentary genres exemplify some of the best films of Arab Cinema – from countries such as Jordan, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt and Palestine. Central to the program “Arabian Nights” is homage to Egyptian director Youssef Chahine with his pivotal, groundbreaking work; Alexandria Trilogy. The program Arabian Nights promises a stunning, unique and enigmatic journey into Arab Cinema.

Chronicle of the Year of Embers

Chronicle of the Year of Embers

A Suspended Life

A Suspended Life

Date Wine

Date Wine

Omar Gatlato

Omar Gatlato

Umm Kulthum, A Voice Like Egypt

Umm Kulthum, A Voice Like Egypt

The Broken Wings

The Broken Wings

Alexandria Trilogy Alexandria, Again and Forever

Alexandria Trilogy Alexandria, Again and Forever

Alexandria Trilogy Alexandria, Why?

Alexandria Trilogy Alexandria, Why?

Alexandria Trilogy An Egyptian Story

Alexandria Trilogy An Egyptian Story

Program Trailer

Arabian Nights
A Journey into Arab Cinema

Central to the program “Arabian Nights” is homage to Egyptian director Youssef Chahine with his pivotal, groundbreaking work; Alexandria Trilogy. The program Arabian Nights promises a stunning, unique and enigmatic journey into Arab Cinema.

Between Desert and Sea

The result of our collaboration with the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts and comprising modern and contemporary works of various artists from Arab countries around the Mediterranean, the exhibition Between Desert and Sea: A Selection from the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts was hosted by Pera Museum.

Between Desert and Sea

Il Cavallo di Leonardo

Il Cavallo di Leonardo

In 1493, exactly 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci was finishing the preparations for casting the equestrian monument (4 times life size), which Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan commissioned in memory of his father some 12 years earlier. 

The First Nudes

The First Nudes

Men were the first nudes in Turkish painting. The majority of these paintings were academic studies executed in oil paint; they were part of the education of artists that had finally attained the opportunity to work from the live model. The gender of the models constituted an obstacle in the way of characterizing these paintings as ‘nudes’. 

From the Age of Reason to the “Tortoise Trainer”

From the Age of Reason to the “Tortoise Trainer”

A Salon exhibition held in the Grand Palais in Paris on May 1, 1906 showcased an Ottoman painting. This was Osman Hamdi Bey’s famous “Tortoise Trainer”.