The Reality of Lebanese Cinema, without Hierarchy
Daily Star staff
Saturday, August 22, 2009
BEIRUT: The eighth edition of ..né.à Beyrouth’s Lebanese Film Festival commenced at Metropolis Cinema Thursday evening with a trio of brand-new works by Lebanese artists. Danielle Arbid’s 29-minute cinematic essay “Conversation de Salon II (4,5,6),” the 31-minute “Bi rouh, bi dam” (“In their Blood”) by Katia Jarjoura and Talal Khoury’s 35-minute “Mercredi” (“Wednesday”) began the event.
Some 41 films will be screened at LFF this year. As usual, they are divided into several categories. New and newish local works – short films and cinematic essays, animated films, documentaries and music videos – are clustered in the “Lebanese Corner.” Filmmakers of the Lebanese diaspora have their own section as do non-Lebanese filmmakers. There is also a retrospective of short foreign works, both music videos and short films. LFF will close Monday evening with Chadi Zeneddine’s debut feature from 2007, the poetic, “Falling from Earth.”
Many of the new-to-Lebanon films come from tested filmmaking talents – the works by Arbid, Jarjoura and Khoury that opened the festival, for instance, Rami Kodeih’s new film “P like Paranoid,” Ziad Antar’s “Laylit Hob,” and “Awalouha Najwa … wa akhirouha!” byt Lokman Slim and Monika Borgmann. Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige’s “Khiam 2000-2007” promises a reappraisal of their well-received 2000 doc “Khiam.”
LFF also provides a platform where Lebanese film and film about Lebanon – which usually enjoys single, one-off theatrical screenings – to be projected again. Among the excellent works that will enjoy reprise screenings are Eliane Raheb’s “Hayda Lubnan,” Nizar Hassan’s “Janoub,” Gheith al-Amine’s “Once upon a sidewalk,” Carine Doumit’s “Video 1,” and Mohamed Soueid’s “My Heart beats only for her.”
“It’s all about giving Lebanese films the opportunity to be broadcasted, and above all, about emphasizing the vitality of Lebanese movies, the quality of which has substantially improved ever since the launch of our first initiative in 2001,” remarked festival director Pierre Sarraf at the Monday press conference held by ..né.à Beyrouth and their partners Bank Audi sal – Audi Saradar Group. “The event is actually much more than a festival since it aims at reflecting the reality of Lebanese cinema, without establishing hierarchy between different film categories.”
Sarraf and Audi Bank’s Raymond Audi ended the conference by announcing the “Bank Audi Best Film Award,” a $2,000 prize for the best film selected from all categories. The winner will be selected by a jury composed of Beirut DC founder and Metropolis Cinema director Hania Mroue, Al-Mustaqbal film critic Rima Mismar, Oberhausen International Short Film Festival director Lars Gass and Lebanese filmmaker Elie Khalife.
Gass and Akram Zaatari, Lebanese video artist, curator, director and co-founder of the Arab Image Foundation, will conduct a Question-and-Answer session on Sunday, during which Gass will share his thoughts on the role and future of film festivals, exploring such questions as, “When film festivals are no longer marketplace, but forums, not a place of trade anymore, but places of commutation, when they no longer broker but commercialize, what then will be the income base for the filmmakers and producers?”
Following the Q&A, they will preside over a screening of films selected from the Oberhausen festival. LFF organizers point out that they were especially pleased to have welcome to have Gass on hand to select a selection of films from Oberhausen which, like the Lebanese Film Festival, screens a number of short films by up and coming directors. – The Daily Star
The Lebanese Film Festival continues at Metropolis Cinema (aka Sofil) until August 24. For more information ring + 961 1 203 485
