“Koran By Heart,” Doc About Muslim Child Prodigies, Charms Tribeca

26 April 2011 1:43 PM, PDT | Scott Feinberg | See recent Scott Feinberg news »

The highlight of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, for me, has been Greg Barker’s remarkable documentary “Koran by Heart” (HBO, 8/1/11, trailer), which was greeted with a standing ovation — something New York audiences don’t offer easily — following its world premiere on Sunday. Like so many other docs also championed by Sheila Nevins, HBO’s veteran president of documentary and family programming, it is informative, quirky, and deeply moving, and it introduces Western audiences to a cultural phenomenon with which few will already be acquainted. The film’s subject? An international Koran-recitation competition in Cairo and its 100 contestants, all of whom are children, some as young as seven, who have memorized Islam’s 600-page holy book and are challenged to both accurately and melodically recite passages from it on-demand.

The film principally chronicles the experiences of three charismatic 10-year-olds, from the time they learn of their acceptance into the competition, »

- Scott Feinberg

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