Half Moon (2025)

Name: Half Moon
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2025-06-21T11:31:41+02:00
Rating: 3.25

Documentary | 92 minutes

3,25 2 votes

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Genre: Documentary

Duration: 92 minuten

Country: Netherlands

Directed by: Frank Scheffer

Stars: Kinan Azmeh, Yo-Yo Ma and Dima orsho

IMDb score: 6,6 (23)

This movie is not available on US streaming services.

Half Moon plot

What is the role of art in times of need and tragedy? Frank Scheffer’s documentary attempts to answer that question with the story of Damascus-born clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh, who went into exile in New York after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. During the period that Scheffer follows Azmeh, he tries to navigate an existential crisis: in search of meaning, he travels the world for concerts with other world-class musicians (including Yo-Yo Ma), seeks out his former mentors and develops his unique improvisational composition style.

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mrklm

11374 messages
9897 votes

21 June 2025 at 11:31

Clarinetist Kinan Azmeh was 25 when he moved from Damascus to New York with a green card shortly before 9/11 to study at the prestigious Juilliard School. He immediately experienced the consequences of distrust of people who looked like him, but he still lives in New York. He used his experiences (which were repeated in 2017 when Trump imposed a temporary travel ban on people of Syrian nationality) as a source of inspiration for his music and increased his desire to collaborate with musicians from different cultures, also in the field of music. In essence, this is an interview in which Azmeh provides background information about the music we see and hear him perform, often with special visual support. A conventional but fascinating portrait that certainly encourages us to listen to more of this extraordinary musician and composer.