Norsk filminstitutt

The Tattooed Sun is a close-up portrait of Shwan Dler Qaradaki's late mother. A poetic and moving personal narrative, it is told through watercolour and ink drawings, with a subjective narrative voice. "This is my version of my mother's story’, he says. “My siblings' stories would probably be different.” The film is not only a tribute to his mother, but a call to viewers to reassess stereotypical images of Middle Eastern women as weak and oppressed. Qaradaki's portrait of his mother shows a very different picture.  

Production and distribution

Production Year:
2020
Production country:
Norway
Release date (national):
2020-09-03
Production company:
Kulturbyrået Mesén AS
Financing company:
Norwegian Film Institute
Arts Council Norway
Fritt Ord Foundation
Producer:
Vibeke Christensen
Film consultant:
Eirin Gjørv

Director

  • Shwan Dler Qaradaki

    Shwan Dler Qaradaki was born in 1977 in Sulaimani, which is the Iraqi region of Kurdistan. He tudied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Northern Iraq and completed his arts education in Norway at the Oslo National Academy of Fine Arts in 2009. His works have been featured at a number of solo and group exhibitions in Norway and abroad. In 2013 Qaradaki won the Oslo City Culture Award. In 2015 he was awarded the Newcomer of the Year prize from the Norwegian Arts Council on an account of his powerful stories told through the medium of solid artistic expression. Qaradaki works in a number of diverse artistic genres and make use of several different media and techniques, such as watercolour, drawing, photography, video art and installations. His skillful work touches upon strong themes of identity, belonging, asylum issues, human rights, democracy and freedom of expression and not least art as means of potential change.

    Shwan Dler Qaradaki

Festivals

2020:
Movies on War

Crew

Director:
Shwan Dler Qaradaki
Screenplay:
Shwan Dler Qaradaki
Cinematographer:
Ranj Hussein
Editor:
Inge-Lise Langfeldt
Composer:
Foad Karim Ali
Ibrahim Najmadin
Nils Økland
Abdulla Karimi
Sound Design:
Sigrun Merete Mongstad
Voices:
Jan Gunnar Røise
Alland H. R.
Shwan Dler Qaradaki

Technical information

Format:
DCP 2k
Colour:
Colour
Length in min's:
20'
Language:
English

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