A self-taught auteur of film with international, intercontinental and cross-cultural themes, in which diverse mores, values and traditions are converged to make for a festive experience for the senses.
Rosebiani acquired his knowledge of filmmaking during his college years at NOVA (Northern Virginia Community College) in the mid eighties while managing movie theaters and making experimental videos for a public access television that received local and national awards, among them the Hometown, USA prize in 1987.
Rosebiani made his feature film debut with "Dance of the Pendulum" in 1995 ‐ a low budget intellectual comedy parodying violence and exploitation in Hollywood movies, shot entirely in a house in the Studio City Hills in 18 days. The film, which was shot on Super-16mm, was distributed in the digital format in over a dozen countries, however the negative print was never cut. A new version with some animation is planned for release in the second half of this year.
“Jiyan” (life) is Rosebiani's second film made in 2002 as a homage to his Kurdish roots and to the people of Halabja (the town that was subjected to chemical and biological bombardment by the Iraqi regime in 1988). The film, intended to be a window to the world for the Kurds, received high critical acclaim, including four‐star ratings by The Guardian and BBC World, and became a festival favorite, garnering numerous awards.
"Jiyan" was the first Kurdish film to be made in the autonomous Kurdish region with a local cast and crew. Rosebiani had to smuggle filming equipment into the region through Turkey, and later smuggled the footage out to Belgium where he did the post production.
Rosebiani's latest film is "Chaplin of the Mountains", shot in the summer of 2009 with an ensemble cast of American, European and Kurdish actors. "Chaplin of the Mountains" is the first English language film to be shot in the Kurdish countryside. It is now in post production in Southern California where Rosebiani lives with his wife, Hézha and two children, Avésta (5) and Janovan (3).
Mission statement:
Film, being a simulation of human behavior, is the definitive medium for cultural exchange in which diverse mores, values and traditions may be converged, like a musical fusion, physically and intellectually to make for a festive experience for the senses. My aim is to make stories with international, intercontinental and cross-cultural themes depicting the love for life, love for Mother Nature and, most importantly, love for humanity, that is the key to bringing peace and harmony to our troubled world.
"Dance of the Pendulum" deals with a paradoxical, almost otherwordly interlogical encounter between the Creator(s) and his/her/their Creation where they have to come to terms through an exchange of perspectives. When that end proves unattainable, the tables are turned and the ever-exploited Creation gives her Makers a taste of their own medicine. It is the avenge of the Underdog upon the uncompromising Big Wheel, and metaphorically a cry for justice.
In the absence of understanding one another there is little chance for harmony, in the absence of which choas and bloodshed will be our lot. "Jiyan" displays the end result of such choas - death and destruction. However, despite the dire premise, Jiyan, meaning Life, is about the triumph of the human spirit over the perpetuated madness. The film is a life-affirming tale of the underdog's resillience and love of life.
"Chaplin of the Mountains" fits a more presice example of my aforementioned signature. It is a cross-cultural film in a true sense - a road movie with American, French, Italian and Kurdish characters trekking the magestic mountains of Kurdistan to remote villages where music, dance and poetry are the course of the everyday. It is the celebration of life in the face of death and destruction, the wounds of which are just below the surface, popping up occasionally for brief moments not so much to distract, but rather simply as a reminder.
Jano Rosebiani with Chaplin of the Mountains cast
