North American Premiere
The act of artistic creation can feel inadequate when trying to convey the tragedy of war, but for clarinettist and composer Kinan Azmeh, music is a way to bear that grief and break down the boundaries of emotional and cultural expression. A witness to lives lost and displaced in his home country of Syria, Azmeh questions what role he can play as an artist and musician in a face of global conflicts and violence.
Frank Scheffer’s introspective documentary follows Azmeh on his travels to New York, Amsterdam, and Palestine, where the artist’s soulful music and collaborative performances enrapture audiences through outpourings of emotional urgency. Half Moon: Kinan Azmeh is a profound and celebratory meditation on art’s ability to inspire different cultures and reshape solidarity, community, and hope in the world, even in dark times.
Presented by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Kinan Azmeh, Dima Orsho, Basilius Arawad, Yo-Yo Ma, Eric Vloeimans
Netherlands
2025
In English and Arabic with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
Niek Koppen, Jan de Ruiter, Jia Zhao
Screenwriter
Frank Scheffer, Lies Janssen
Cinematography
Benito Strangio, Talal Khoury, Melle van Essen, Roel van ‘t Hoff, Frank Scheffer
Editor
Ruben van der Hammen, Frank Scheffer
Frank Scheffer
Frank Scheffer has directed over 40 music documentaries and experimental films, for which he has received numerous awards and recognitions. Image and sound combine in Scheffer’s films to offer the audience a unique sensory experience, and his films have featured prominent postwar composers like Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, John Cage, Elliott Carter, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Frank Zappa. A retrospective of Scheffer’s work was featured at the MoMA.
Filmography: Zoetrope People (1982); A Labyrinth of Time (2004); Gozaran – Time Passing (2011); Inner Landscape (2019); Gustav Mahler – Singer for the Earth (2022); Intensely Soulful (2023)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Nutcracker at Wethersfield
Back in the long, dark Covid winter of 2020, there was no way the New York City Ballet could mount their traditional Christmas production of Tchaikovsky's fairytale. But choreographer Troy Schumacher had a dream to save the show -- reimagining a classic.
The Wizard of Oz
Judy Garland is Dorothy, a Kansas farm girl swept by a tornado to the Technicolor world of Oz, where she is befriended by a cowardly lion, a brainless scarecrow and a tin man without a heart.
The Wizard of Oz © 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. All Rights Reserved.
North of Ourselves
In the depths of winter, two adventurers set out to cross Quebec from one end to the other on bike and skis, exploring its staggering geography and meeting its inhabitants (human and otherwise) along the way.
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
It's a Wonderful Life
Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings. This Christmas classic is whimsical, sure, but it has the depth to stand up to multiple watches, and it really should be a communal experience, because that is what it's about.