Babel
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Brad Pitt
Cate Blanchett
Mohamed Akhzam
Peter Wight
Harriet Walter
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
On the vast, barren hillsides of Morocco, goatherd Abdullah buys a rifle from his neighbor Hassan, then orders his adolescent sons Yussef and Ahmed to use it to kill jackals attacking the herd. While tending the goats that day, Yussef, at Ahmed's prompting, tries proving Hassan's claim that the gun has a three-kilometer range by taking a potshot at a passing tourist bus. Seeing the bus stop, the boys race home but do not tell their parents about the incident. Meanwhile, American Richard, who is vacationing with his wife Susan in Morocco, calls his home in San Diego where Mexican nanny Amelia is staying with the couple's children Mike and Debbie. When Richard insists that Amelia remain with the children, she quietly protests that she must attend the wedding of her son Luis in Mexico. Despite knowing that crossing the border with the American children is illegal, Amelia decides to take them with her to the wedding, accompanied by her reckless but charming nephew Santiago, who drives them. Earlier at an outdoor café in Morocco, Richard is still convinced that their Moroccan vacation will help him and his wife reconnect after the sudden death their infant son Sam; however, Susan's lingering depression and resentment continues to divide them. Soon after boarding their tourist bus, Susan reaches out for Richard, but is suddenly hit by a bullet that crashes through the window. In Japan, after deaf-mute teenager Chieko is thrown out of a volleyball game for her insolent behavior, her father Yasujiro, knowing that his daughter is acting out over her mother's recent suicide, patiently reminds her that he misses his wife, too. Soon after at J-Pop Special club, Chieko and her friend Mitsu flirt with several boys from across the restaurant, but are soon ridiculed when the boys find out they are deaf. Outraged at being treated like a "monster" and desperate for some kind of communication, Chieko flashes the boys with the "real monster" under her skirt. Meanwhile, in a small, dusty Mexican village, dozens gather to attend Luis and Patricia's wedding. At first shy and bewildered by the different culture, Mike and Debbie soon join other children from the village in capturing chickens to slaughter for the celebration, which continues long into the night with dancing and music. Hours earlier, the Moroccan tour bus pulls to a halt as Richard screams for someone to help his wife. Far from a city, tour guide Anwar suggests driving the bus to his home town Tazarine, where the American, Australian and European tourists are immediately filled with animosity toward the villagers, whom they assume must be terrorists. Leaving the tourists on the bus, Richard carries Susan into Anwar's house and calls his sister Rachel, ordering her to contact the American embassy. Meanwhile, when the only doctor, a veterinarian, pulls out a crude needle and thread to sew up Susan's wound to prevent her from bleeding to death, Richard and Anwar must hold the terrified Susan down for the procedure. At the same time in Japan, Chieko, after being thrown out of her dentist's office for trying to kiss him, returns to her luxurious apartment building where she meets two detectives looking for her father. Chieko takes Detective Kenji's card, although she is wary of his intentions after the recent police investigation into her mother's death. After learning from their father that a tourist was killed on a bus by terrorists, Yussef and Ahmed hide the gun in the hills. Nearby, Police Captain Alarid and his men brutally interrogate Hassan, until he tells them he sold the gun to Abdullah and explains that the gun was given to him by a Japanese hunter as a gift. Returning home from hiding the gun, Yussef and Ahmed are stopped by the police. Yussef misleads them in their quest for Abdullah and races home where he admits to his father that he shot the gun, but accuses Ahmed of prompting him. Desperate to deflect his father's wrath, Ahmed blurts out that Yussef has been watching their sister Zohra undress. Equally angered by the shooting and Yussef's breach of family code, Abdullah lashes out at the boys. In Tazarine, the tourists rudely refuse the villagers' offers of food and tell Richard he has only thirty minutes until they leave without him and Susan. While Moroccan television reports that the U.S. government overreacted by insinuating that the shooting was terrorist-related, Anwar's mother gingerly holds Susan's head to help her smoke a pipe containing drugs to soothe her excruciating pain and hysteria. At a Japanese park, Chieko and Mitsu meet Haruki, the cousin of a teammate, and two other boys, who speak slowly enough for the girls to lip-read what they are saying. Assured by their friendliness, the girls get high on drugs and whiskey and traverse the city in a giggling bliss with the boys, ending at a disco, where Chieko is disillusioned when she sees Mitsu making out with Haruki. Arriving at home, Chieko then asks the doorman to call Kenji, to whom she was attracted earlier. In Morocco, the police spot Abdullah and the boys fleeing in the hills and start shooting. The three take cover behind rocks, but when Ahmed is shot in the leg, Yussef, seeing no other way to save his family, shoots at the officers, wounding one. Meanwhile in Mexico, despite Luis' protests that Santiago is drunk and has a police record, Amelia, with no other way to return to San Diego, loads Mike and Debbie into his car. At the border, an officer, seeing the white children with the obviously drunk Santiago and fearful Amelia, searches the car and demands that Amelia show them a letter of permission from the children's parents. Incensed and afraid, Santiago speeds away, then drops the now-weeping Amelia and children in the desert far from any road, promising to return for them after he has lost the police, who are in close pursuit. Back in Tazarine, after hours of waiting, Richard grows more frustrated upon learning that the American Embassy is sending a helicopter, having stopped the ambulance for fear of further "terrorist acts." When the belligerent tourists then accuse him of endangering their lives, Richard hits one of the men, prompting the group to commandeer the bus and leave. In Japan, Chieko, who believes the police are still investigating her mother's suicide, tells the detective that she saw her mother jump from the balcony. Seeing the picture of Yasujiro hunting in Morocco, the detective is shocked by the family tragedy and tries to explain that his questions are about an unrelated matter. As he attempts to leave, Chieko tries to seduce him by returning to the room nude. When the detective pushes her away, Chieko bursts into tears at another rejection and miscommunication. After he comforts her with a long embrace, Chieko writes him a note, insisting that he read it later. On the hillside in Morocco, officers shoot and kill Ahmed, prompting Yussef to bash the gun against a rock and then walk bravely toward them with his hands held high in surrender, crying "I killed the American" and begging them to save his brother. Meanwhile at Anwar's house, Susan and Richard finally cry together for Sam, absolving each other of any wrongdoing. After sleeping on the desert floor, Amelia and the children awaken to a desolate landscape that is soon unbearably hot. Forced to leave the children under the shade of a tree with no water, Amelia continues alone for help. Hours later, Amelia stumbles across the sand to chase down a passing patrol vehicle, but the officer immediately arrests her on suspicion of kidnapping, expressing little sympathy for her pleas to save the children. Later at a police facility, Amelia is told the children were found. The officer continues that, although the children could have died in the adverse conditions, Richard has declined to press charges against her. Despite Amelia's pleas that she has lovingly reared the children since birth and has lived in the U.S. for sixteen years, the officer coldly states that because she is an illegal resident, he is recommending voluntary deportation, threatening further action against her if she refuses. Soon after, Amelia meets Luis in Mexico and cries in his arms at the loss of her American life. In Tazarine, as the helicopter descends to pick up Richard and Susan, Richard attempts to repay Anwar for his kindness, but he gently refuses. Reaching a hospital in a nearby city, dozens of reporters and camera crews descend on the couple, anxious to cover the "injured American." Once in the hospital, Richard calls Amelia, ordering her to stay with the children despite her son's wedding. At the sound of his children's voices on the phone, he weeps helplessly. At the same time in Japan, Kenji, seeing Yasujiro in the lobby of the apartment building, asks about the gun in the photograph, explaining that it was registered to Yasujiro and was used in an attempted murder. Yasujiro says he gave it to Hassan as a gift and, although concerned about Hassan, is more grateful to hear that he is not implicated. When the detective then offers his condolences to Yasujiro for his wife's fatal fall from the balcony, Yasujiro orders him to leave, informing him that his wife shot herself and Chieko was the first to find her. Moments later, as Kenji sees a television report on Susan's recovery and reads Chieko's note, Yasujiro, finding his daughter nude on the balcony, tenderly embraces her and sobs with her over their incredible loss and loneliness.
Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Cast
Brad Pitt
Cate Blanchett
Mohamed Akhzam
Peter Wight
Harriet Walter
Trevor Martin
Matyelok Gibbs
Georges Bousquet
Claudine Acs
Andre Oumansky
Michael Maloney
Dermot Crowley
Wendy Nottingham
Henry Maratray
Linda Broughton
Jean Marc Hulot
Aline Mowat
Lilíane Escoza
Lindsey Beauchamp
Michel Dubois
Shirley Dixon
Patrick Lebre
John O'mohoney
Mary Mitchell
Edward Lyon
Robert Fyfe
Abdelaziz Merzoug
Omar El Mallouli
El Hassan Ait Bablal
Sfia Ait Benboullah
Hammou Aghrar
Mohamed Ait Lahcen
Ali Hamadi
Lhacen Znin
Mustapha Amhita
Mohammed Amal El Koussi
Mohamed Nait Addi
Mohammed El Bouamraoui
Rahmoune Abdelhalim
Soukayna Ait Boufakri
Youssef Boukioud
Khouyael Houssein
Alex Jennings
Commandant Mesbah
Timothy Peter Buxton
Dr. Mohammed Ourjdal
Aimée Meditz
Dr. Mohammed Bennani
Boubker Ait El Caid
Said Tarchani
Mustapha Rachidi
Driss Roukhe
Wahiba Sahmi
Fadmael Ouali
Zahra Ahkouk
Abdelkader Bara
Ehou Mama
Rida Taya
Salah Mezzi
Mohamed Atkliss
Adriana Barraza
Elle Fanning
Nathan Gamble
Gael García Bernal
Monica Del Carmen
Rosa Reyes
Robert "bernie" Esquivel
Damian Garcia
Barbarella Pardo
Ursula Garcia
Cynthia Montaño
Maripaz Lopez
Santiago Lizarraga
Ismael Gregorio
Pedro Sillas
Enrique Garcia Contreras
Fernando Montes Avila
Luis Avila
Eugenio Jara Reynoso
Pedro Cuota
Romeo Echeverria Jimenez "el Gitano"
Guadalupe Quintero
Mariano Quintero
Eluterio Higuera
Pascual Montaño
Efrain Gonzalez
Claudia Silvia Mendoza
Norma Samarin
Polo Nuño
Jose Campas Agiñaga
Miguel Maldonado Tinoco
Rosa Campos Maldonado
Emilio Echevarria
Clifton Collins Jr.
Aaron Spears
Jamie Mcbride
Michael Peña
Ivor Shier
Rd Call
Rinko Kikuchi
Koji Yakusho
Yuko Murata
Kumi Ohkawatsu
Miyuki Tamada
Hirotaka Nabeya
Kazuya Senzaki
Takanobu Imaizumi
Koji Yoshida
Saki Kito
Tomomi Kosugi
Noemi
Rita Watanabe
Ran Saotome
Sanae Miura
Kazunori Sasaki
Ryoji Takiguchi
Shoushi Nakasone
Jun Tanaka
Masayuki Ishiii
Yoshiyuki Yagisawa
Hideto Onishi
Hiroshi Yazaki
Zengo Matayoshi
Koji Morisawa
Sumire Matsumura
Kyoko Saito
Hazuki Saito
Yu Tanabe
Kentaro Tokuhiro
Kiichiro Kawauchi
Shigemitsu Ogi
Tose Fukuda
Satoshi Nikaido
Kazunori Tozawa
Junichi Hayakawa
Nobushige Suematsu
Shinji Suzuki
Reina Makino
Ayako Masagaki
Yurie Okada
Erika Okada
Mika Yokoyama
Kimi Unno
Kazuma Yamane
Hideaki Kunieda
Keita Kanegae
Tomohiro Higashi
Onbou Miura
Daiki Inuoe
Shinichi Osawa
Noriko Yamamura
Motomi Kobayashi
Akira Matsuda
Shizue Yamamoto
Kaoru Mihira
Ayaka Kotake
Natsumi Hayashida
Maki Kuraya
Kana Harada
Sayaka Shimizu
Ai Takahashi
Sumie Kobayashi
Yoko Iwasaki
Eri Terada
Reina Aoki
Naoko Kato
Ikumi Muramatsu
Keiko Nakamichi
Miyuki Kido
Fumie Takama
Miki Watanuki
Aki Yanagisawa
Megumi Watanabe
Hanako Komatsu
Fumie Kikuchi
Hotomi Nakajima
Miyuki Aoki
Yuko Raihou
Hosana Ueyama
Erika Nakaya
Sachiyo Yamashita
Kaori Shimizu
Kanagawa Prefectural Hiratsuka School For The Deaf
Mito School For The Deaf
Gunma Prefectural School For The Deaf
Gifu School For The Deaf
Yuta Hori
Ikken
Takayuki Matsumoto
Maro
Marie Machida
Namiko Hatori
Yurako Takano
Kiyomi Ensou
Ikue Takada
Yoshiki Wakura
Yosuke Morita
Yuji Inanobe
Crew
Ignacio "gato" Iii
Hiam Abbass
Ahmed Jimmy Abounouom
Karim Abouobayd
Toufiq Abouobayd
Giovanna Acha
Abdellah Achir
Kentaro Adachi
Richie Adams
Benito Aguilar
Tsuneyuki Aikou
Hamid Ait Timaghrit
Tom Ajar
Osamu Akaoda
Yoshihito Akatsuka
Hicham Akbour
Takahiro Akimoto
Geneviéve Akoka
Samir Akrab
Yara Al Ghafri
Merry Alderman
Canek Alfonso
Casey Allen
Julio Cesar Alvarez G.
Julieta Alvarez Icaza
José Amador
Lucy Amador
Masanobu Amemiya
Giovanni Angeletti
Yassine Aouni
Kevin Aragón
Gerardo Arellano
Christian Arias
Elena Armas
Carlos Armella
José Manuel Arrellano
Blanca Arreola
Guillermo Arriaga
Guillermo Arriaga
Shinichiro Asakura
Greg Astles
Alain Aswani
Mohamed Atbir
Irma Avila
José Ayala
Francisco Ayala Martínez
Jalal Aziz
Hassan Bajja
Hicham Balafrej
Majid Balafrej
Ana Ballesteros
José Manuel Ballesteros
Patrick Bard
Jeremy Bau
Robby Baumgartner
Galaxia Bautista
Driss Bayoussef
Kenny Becker
Steev Beeson
Darren Bell
Mustapha Ben Hattom
Youssef Benaji
Salah Benchegra
Mohammed Najib Benfares
Jinane Benzaida
Berto
Alessandro Bertolazzi
Christine Bieselin
Caroldene Black
Jean Black
Luis Blackaller
James Bomalick
Khalid Boulasri
Fouad Bourbouh
Aziz Bousfiha
Khalid Bouslamti
Abderrahim Bouwizri
Rick Boyle
Miguel Rio Branco
Brigitte Broch
Richard Burton
Maurico Lule Camacho
Victor Manuel Camacho
Raúl Farías Campos
Alexandra Cardenas
Tomás Carlos
Antonio Carrasco
Luis Eduardo Carreola
Juliette Castanier
Luis Haro Castro
Joaquín Cervera
Jeannette Cerwonka
Abdelkader Chaoui
Jeff Charles
Adan Sierra Chávez
José Lorrabaquio Chávez
Dominic Cheung
Houssana Choukri
Mohammed Chrouate
Saulo Cisneros
Richard Clark
Nicola Clarke
Nigel Clay
Murray Close
Oscar Cobar
Carlos Cole
Juana Bocanegra Colin
José Luis Nava Contreras
Manuel Cordero
Arturo Castañeda Corona
Ignacio Arteaga Cortez
Alex Corven
Conor Coughlan
Thiery Couturier
Gustavo Covarrubias
Raul Covarrubias
Denise Crise
Douglas Crise
Florencia Martha Cruz
Eduardo Valverde Cueto
Eddie Curtis
James Cutting
Martin De Chabaneix
Marco De Filippis
Bárbara De Haro
Luisa Gomez De Silva
Alejandro Torres Delgado
Khalid Dellali
Joey Dianda
Joey Dianda
Gabriela Diaque
Derek Hecker Díaz
Sergio Diaz
Mounir Dine
Alice Ding
Frank Dominguez
Blake Dow
Kathy Driscoll-mohler
Alisarine Ducolomb
Valance Eisleben
Mouhssine El Badaoui
Hiba El Boukili
Lahcen El Harraf
Saida El Idrissi
Souad El Khattabi
Ouassil El Kilali
Sana El Kilali
Hicham El Kounty
Said El Kounty
Ahmed Elarachi
Fernando Elizalde
Ahmet Ertegun
Estanislao Espinoza
Trinidad Espinoza
Jorge Sandoval Estrada
Odin Cruz Estrada
Hideo Eto
Redouane Ezahri
Lynn Fainchtein
Elvia Felix
Marie-bertha Ferrer
Marina Fillipeli
Marina Fillipeli
Patrick Flannery
José Angel Valencia Flores
Marcelino Hernandez Flores
Christina Foundation
Frantic
Kevin Frost
Jonathan Fuh
Jonathan Fuh
Genichiro Fujimori
Hiroshi Fujita
Kenichi Fukuyama
Dj Fumiya
Katsumi Furuhashi
Nozomi Furuhashi
Toshitaka Furuike
Driss Gaidi
Manuel Galaviz
Luis Edgar Gallaga
Juan Carlos Gamiño
Leonardo Soto Garay
Griselda García
Guillermo Victoria García
José Garcia
Juan Carlos García
Juan Manuel García
Marco Antonio García Mungula
Claudia García Repper
Fiona Garland
Federico Zavala Gazca
Marco Giacalone
Raymond Gieringer
Anna Golin
Steve Golin
Francisco Ruben Nava Gómez
Alfonso Gómez-rejón
Alfonso Gómez-rejón
Efrain Gonzalez Gonzalez
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Wins
Best Score
Award Nominations
Best Director
Best Editing
Best Original Screenplay
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actress
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Aside from the title, production and distribution companies, all credits are at the end of the film. The closing credits state that the film was dedicated to director Alejandro González Iñárritu's children "Maria Eladia and Eliseo...the brightest lights in the darkest night." Acknowledgment is given to several companies for the use of Japanese television animation, commercial and program footage. Special thanks is given to dozens of individuals and associations who assisted at the various shooting locations, including His Majesty King Mohamed VI, Princess Lalla Hasna, Les Forces Armées Royales, residents of Taguenzalt, Japan Deaf Volleyball Association, Instituto Nacional de Migración and Presidencía Municipal, Jorge Hank Rhon.
Babel is set in four diverse locations and illustrates each location's distinctive culture: San Diego, CA; a small village just south of Tijuana, Mexico; a farming community in Berber-speaking Morocco; and affluent Tokyo, Japan. González Iñárritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga chose to present the film's scenes out of chronological order and to juxtapose the action among the various locales, thus enabling them to control the resolution of each group of characters at different locations at the end of the film.
On the film's official website, González Iñárritu stated that he was inspired to make the film during a 2003 visit to Japan during which he encountered deaf-mute citizens dealing with difficult communication issues. In addition, his immigrant status as a Mexican who had recently moved from Mexico City to the U.S. just before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks prompted him to create one story specifically revolving around U.S.-Mexico border issues and to create a web of international diplomatic circumstances among the various stories. Further, he explained that the film was an expression of the tragedy of being unable to be touched by love or sentiment.
Although Hollywood Reporter production charts stated that the film was shooting from 2 May to late September 2005 solely in Morocco, a May 27, 2005 Screen International article stated that after shooting in Morocco from May to mid-Jun, the production planned to move to Mexico and was scheduled to shoot in Japan in mid-Nov. González Iñárritu and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto used several techniques to ensure the authenticity and distinctive quality of each location. According to a November 10, 2006 Hollywood Reporter article, the filmmakers used several different types of film stock to make each location distinct, including three-perf Super 35mm, 35mm, 18.5 anamorphic and Super 16mm. According to an September 8, 2006 WSJ article, when the film began principal photography in Morocco, González Iñárritu had recently replaced most of his professional actors with non-professionals from the area including a shepherd, carpenter and two young boys for the four key roles. In Japan, González Iñárritu hired actress Rinko Kikuchi, who then taught herself sign language for the lead role; however, all of the other deaf-mute characters were deaf-mute girls with no professional acting experience.
As related in the Bible, Genesis.11, in the city of Babel, humans attempted to build a tower to the heavens, thus angering God, who then created disunity among them by giving them different languages. To convey this sense of troubled communication, the filmmakers used many cultural conflicts between countries and used several languages in the film including Berber, English, Spanish, Japanese and sign language. Subtitles were used for all non-English dialogue in the English-language release. In addition, the Japanese deaf-mute characters used notepads to write their thoughts down for each of the characters who did not sign. Although these were not translated for the audience, characters' reactions to the notes usually alluded sufficiently to the content. Several Tokyo sequences are almost silent, giving the viewer a chance to understand the perspective of a deaf-mute character negotiating the world with limited sensory abilities.
The film's official website notes that costume designer Michael Wilkinson contributed to the authenticity of the Moroccan scenes by trading newly purchased clothes with villagers for their own clothes to use in the shooting. Composer Gustavo Santaolalla was drawn to an instrument called the ude, an ancestor to the lute and guitar, and sounding much like the Japanese instrument koto, to connect the Arab, Spanish and Japanese locations.
As González Iñárritu stated in several interviews, Babel was the final film in a trilogy of films on which he collaborated with writer Arriaga, beginning with the 2000 film Amores Perros and the 2003 film 21 Grams. A October 30, 2006 Variety article reported that producers Jon Kilik and Steve Golin placed an advertisement in New York Times asserting that, although the collaborative team had decided to end their partnership, rumors attesting to arguments over creative authorship of the film were unfounded. According to a November 3, 2006 Entertainment Weekly article, the rumored disagreements centered on Arriaga's feeling that he should receive more credit for his involvement in developing the film.
Babel was the first film released by Paramount Vantage, a newly formed subsidiary of The Paramount Motion Picture Group, a division of Viacom. When the picture was released, it received mixed reviews. Some critics felt that the multiple interwoven stories made popular by such films as the 2001 film Traffic and the 1999 picture Magnolia, merely created "narrative gimmickry," according to the Village Voice review. Other critics, such as Ray Bennett of Hollywood Reporter, praised the filmmakers for "brilliantly weaving" the stories and creating compassion for characters from different cultures.
Babel was selected by AFI as one of the Movies of the Year. The film won an Academy Award for Best Original Score and was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Achievement in Film Editing. González Iñárritu was nominated for Best Director, and Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Babel won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture-Drama and received nominations in the following categories: Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Barraza and Kikuchi) and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Brad Pitt). The film was nominated for BAFTA awards in the following categories: Film, Achievement in Direction, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Sound.
In addition, Babel won the Best Director award and Technical Grand Prize for Film Editing at the Cannes Film Festival. The Screen Actors Guild nominated the film for Best Ensemble Cast and Adriana Barraza for Best Supporting Actress. The picture received a nomination by the Writers Guild of America for Best Original Screenplay; the Producers Guild nominated the film for the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award; and González Iñárritu was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for Directorial Achievement in Feature Film. The National Board of Review honored Kikuchi with an award for Breakthrough Performance. Babel was also listed on several best films of the year list, including New York Times and Los Angeles Times.
Miscellaneous Notes
Co-winner of the 2006 award for Best Female Breakthrough Performance (Rinko Kikuchi) by the National Board of Review (NBR).
Co-winner of the 2006 Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature Film - Dramatic by the American Cinema Editors (ACE).
Voted one of the 10 best films of 2006 by the American Film Institute (AFI).
Winner of the 2006 Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).
Winner of the 2006 award for Best Supporting Actress (Rinko Kikuchi) by the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA).
Winner of the 2006 award for Best Supprting Actress (Adrianna Barraza) by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle (SFFCC).
Winner of the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Original Score by the International Press Academy (IPA).
Winner of the Best Director award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
Limited Release in United States October 27, 2006
Released in United States 2006
Released in United States December 2006
Released in United States Fall October 27, 2006
Released in United States on Video February 20, 2007
Released in United States September 2006
Shown at Dubai International Film Festival (Operation Cultural Bridge) December 10-17, 2006.
Shown at London Film Festival (Closing Night Gala) October 18-November 2, 2006.
Shown at San Sebastian Film Festival (Zabaltegi/Pearls/Opening Film) September 21-30, 2006.
Paramount reportedly paid roughly $20 million for rights to package that include North and South American distribution.
Released in United States 2006 (Shown at London Film Festival (Closing Night Gala) October 18-November 2, 2006.)
Released in United States on Video February 20, 2007
Released in United States September 2006 (Shown at San Sebastian Film Festival (Zabaltegi/Pearls/Opening Film) September 21-30, 2006.)
Released in United States September 2006 (Shown at Telluride Film Festival September 1-4, 2006.)
Limited Release in United States October 27, 2006 (major markets)
Released in United States Fall October 27, 2006
Released in United States December 2006 (Shown at Dubai International Film Festival (Operation Cultural Bridge) December 10-17, 2006.)
Project was included on the 2005 Black List.
