DOHA: Five documentaries on Arabic calligraphy are being screened at Katara as part of its Ramadan festivities.
The screenings, in collaboration with the Al Jazeera Documentary Channel runs until tomorrow at Katara Drama Theatre.
The films include Islamic Art Decoration, Collecting and Writing the Quran, Abro & Colors Swim, Karim Jaafar, and Haji Noor Deen Fingerprints. The films are part of Katara competitions online. Questions can be found on Katara site and films can also be seen on Al Jazeera Documentary site. The films are distinguished in their approach to the Islamic civilisation and calligraphy from different perspectives.
Islamic Art Decoration provides a detailed explanation of architecture and the arts in general, including how to build mosques, minarets and domes, and decorations that adorn the walls, besides the evolution of Arabic calligraphy. It also offers a glimpse of the mechanism of building rooms and palaces and how to decorate them using Arabic calligraphy. Collecting and Writing the Quran revolves around the idea of the revelation of the Quran to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and how it was transferred to the noble Companions and all the reasoning that led to the codification and collection of the holy book.
Abro & Colors Swim depicts the mechanism of the Abro painting on paper. Karim Jaafar sheds light on the biography of the French-Tunisian calligraphist Karim Jaafar and his unique experience in calligraphy, while Haji Noor Deen Fingerprints provides a glimpse of the distinguished Arab-Chinese calligrapher Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang. The Chinese and Arabic calligraphic traditions have often been regarded as two of the world’s finest manifestations of the written word. When combined, the result is an artistic piece that is a work of incredibly unique beauty, and a testimony to man’s synthesising genius. The Peninsula
