HALF MOON

Frank Scheffer | Netherlands 2025 | 92’ | OV with english subtitles

Portrait of a world-renowned Arab musician: Kinan Azmeh began his musical training in Damascus, his birthplace, and later kept on studying in New York (including at famous Juilliard School), not only clarinet, but also composition. The outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011 turned this cosmopolitan, who had always remained actively connected to traditional Syrian music, into an artist in exile. The film accompanies Azmeh over several years.

During this period, he has to overcome an existential crisis, tours the world – including concerts in Beirut and Hamburg’s Elphi! – together with other outstanding musicians – Yo-Yo Ma, among others –, visits former mentors and, above all, further develops his unique style of improvised composition. Through his collaboration with other displaced artists, in particular through the staging of an ambitious opera that deals directly with war, Azmeh’s activities impressively underscore how important it is for Arab artists to tell their own stories and that art has the potential, even in the field of elitist classical music, to address pressing issues and comment on current events.

The film contrasts rousing live performances with intimate scenes in which Azmeh works in his home city of New York, spends time with his family and teaches his young son about his cultural heritage. A multi-layered, thoughtful and patient exploration of the potential of music to create community and connectedness, which has found new resonance in light of recent events in Syria and the resurgent hope of many fellow refugees that they will one day be able to return home.