David & Layla will be screened in Verona Film Festival

KurdishCinema.com – 25 April, 2007 / Melbourne

Kurdish director Jalal Jonroy’s film “David & Layla” will be screened in
11th Verona Schermi d'Amore (Love Screen) Film Festival which will
kick off on 26th April and end at 6th of May 2007. David & Layla will be
screened on 4th of May  at 20.15 in the Panorama section showing a new version of
Romeo & Juliet each year from different countries. The film will be shown at Via Roma 1
cinema.










It is said that the festival is devoted to love and sentimental films. There is a
competition, a Panorama section, and various retrospectives. Verona where the festival
takes place is the city of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.

Awarded 5 times

Previously David & Layla has been invited 20 international film festivals and won 5
different awards including Audience Award at 23rd L’amour Film Festival in Belgium
last February. Besides Jonroy’s film got ‘Spirit of Independents Award’ at last
Lauderdale Florida International Film Festival in October 2006. At the same festival
Shiva Rose playing the leading woman character in David & Layla got ‘Best
Breakthrough Performance’ award for her performance. And David & Layla also got
‘Outstanding Feature’ award at last Washington D.C. World Cinema Festival in March
2006. Jonroy is planning to release his film in July 2007

Snopsis of David & Layla

    New York. It’s love at first sight when David, a successful
    Jewish television producer, sets eyes on Layla, a dazzling
    Kurdish dancer.  Ground down by his sardonic French
    cameraman, his attempts to win her affections finally pay
    off. Layla turns out to be a Muslim refugee whose family is
    dead set against her getting involved with an “infidel”. The
    woman is faced with a quandary: get engaged to Muslim
Ahmad or Jewish David? The latter would mean deportation. David in his turn has a
similar problem to deal with in Abby, the girl he would like to leave, against his family’s
wishes. A story that offers an ironic exploration of the links between the sexes, politics
and religion.

Who is Jay Jonroy

    Jay Jonroy was born in Kurdistan. A writer and director, he
    trained as a screenwriter and director all over the world:
    from Imperial College in London to the Sorbonne in Paris
    to Ucla in Los Angeles. During Saddam Hussein’s
    genocide in Kurdistan, in which he lost two brothers while
    trying to help the family escape from the country, his
    cinema debut project was put on hold for almost ten
years. David & Layla, completed in 2006, in part reflects the painful experiences of that
period. Jay Jonroy, who now has dual Anglo-American citizenship, lives and works
between New York and Paris.

source: www.schermidamore.it