Chris Barsanti

“My parents told me to learn the Koran before everything else,” says Djamil, a 10-year-old boy from Senegal. And he did, working to memorize the entire text in its traditional Arabic script even though he doesn’t speak any Arabic. “I like the way the letters look,” Djamil says. How much he or any of the children taking part in the 2010 International Holy Koran Competition in Cairo comprehend the words they are reciting is a question unanswered in Greg Barker’s superb documentary, Koran By Heart…

My festival reviews of the Tribeca documentaries Koran By Heart and L’Amour Fou are at PopMatters.