The 10th edition of the Beirut Film Days tackles the problems of the Arab world

The 10th Beirut Film Days, organized by the Beirut DC Society between March 29 and April 6, under the title "Diversity", will be part of the Beirut Film Week, a tour of the most important contemporary issues of the Arab world. , To the revolutions of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, to manifestations of extremism and violence, and to sufferings of asylum, through poverty and corruption and to humanitarian problems and social, as well as the quest for the liberation of Arab women.

The Beirut Film Week organizers held a press conference on Friday at the Bristol Hotel to announce the program of the week, which includes a series of activities, including the Beirut Film Festival, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the foundation of Beirut. Beirut Film Festival Director Jad Abi Khalil, Lebanese Film Foundation President Maya de Freij and Metropolis Foundation Director Hania Marwa attended the conference from Beirut.

The festival opens Friday (March 29th) with the film "About Fathers and Children" by Syrian director Talal Dirki, who describes the life of Anar's family in extremist Islamist organizations that want to make it a reality. fighter. It was a Syrian Oscar film, one of five nominated films for documentary, and also featured at the Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival in the United States and elsewhere. .

The closing film of April 6 is "The Day of Religion" by Egyptian director Abu Bakr Shawqi, which tells the story of a man who grew up in a leper colony. The role of this man, Radi Gamal, who was sent to this colony in adolescence because of the diagnosis of injustice. Although it was Abu Bakr Shawki's first feature film, he was chosen to participate in the Cannes Film Festival's official competition, although Shawki had already filmed Abu Zaabal's colony.

The program includes films from four other Egyptian directors, including the documentary "The Long Dream" by Marwan Amara and the German Yohana Dumki, as well as the story of a group of young Egyptians working in a great hotel of Sharm el-Sheikh, And what it represents of the Western-style life, on the one hand, and the Eastern tradition that inspired it, on the other. The film shows how Sharm el-Sheikh recovered from the terrorist attacks of years ago.

The documentary "Hope" by Egyptian Mohamed Siam, presented at the opening of the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDVA) in 2017 and participating in the Carthage Film Festival and the Carlovari Festival, deals with the Egyptian revolution through a teenage teenager at the time of the 2011 revolution, up to twenty.

In an "outside night", Egyptian director Ahmed Abdullah chose to use the camera to tell his personal experiences, his concerns and his dreams, through three people from a world who could not come together to find themselves obliged to spend a night together, thus breaking their past.

The film "The Caves of Cement" by Egyptian director Osama Fawzi, who died very young, pays tribute to him on the occasion of his birthday, which falls during the month of March.

Egyptian filmmaker Amel Ramses tells the extraordinary story of a Palestinian family dispersed and separated from each other by the troubles of the twentieth century, starting with the Spanish Civil War in which Father Najati Sidqi took part the fight against Franco's regime, then the Palestinian Nakba, then the Lebanese war.

Much of the festival was devoted to Palestine through the category "Gaza Look", organized in cooperation with the association "Cooperation", and includes a number of films, including the director's documentary "Al Samouni" Italian Stefano Savona, who won the best documentary film at the 71st festival. "Was" in the category "Golden Eye", and deals with the events of the massacre, which killed 29 members of the Samouni family during a wedding in Gaza City, mainly children and women, during meetings with the survivors of the massacre.

"Apollo Gaza" by Swiss director Nicolas Wadimov discusses the subject of the archeological statue of the Sun God and the music of Apollo in Gaza, which disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

The film is screened for the first time at the Locarno Festival, where it received a special mention and tells the story of a man who had been kidnapped in Lebanon 35 years ago and who was the director . Witness of his kidnapping, he has not yet appeared, but the director portrays his appearance in his own way.

The film "Walking and After" by Lebanese director Cynthia Choucair, whose first show at the Rotterdam Film Festival, treats refugees from the Greek island of Lesbos through clowns celebrating a festival to entertain the children of these children. refugees. The director returns with her latest film while her family asked for security in Greece during the Lebanese war.

In a different atmosphere, the Lebanese documentary "Marjouha" is directed by Cyril Arous, winner of the bronze award at the Ghouna festival and the jury prize at the Medfilm festival in Rome, where the director describes his grandfather and his grandmother and describes how they cope with the tragic death of their daughter.

Ghassan Salhab, the experimental film "Warda" inspired by the life of the communist philosopher and activist Rosa Luxemburg, the most famous communist in history, on the occasion of the assassination. The film, presented at the last edition of the Berlin Film Festival, is based on letters written by Luxembourg when he was in prison in 1917. Salhab is on the sidelines of the screening of a DVD movie for his movies.

On the program, a day devoted to experimental films, during which Salhab will also present films by young directors Rami Sabbagh, Ghada Sayegh and Lawrence Abu Hamdan, as well as the film "C & # 39; is a long way from Amphioxus" from Kamal Al-Jaafari during his first performance after his participation in the Berlin Festival.

The documentary film "Fields of Freedom", directed by Lebanese-British director Naziha Oreibi. On a women's struggle of a different kind from that of Rosa Luxemburg, dealing with the ambition of Libyan women to free themselves from the restrictions imposed by society. In the context of the revolution in Libya, the director focuses on three young educated women who are preparing to work in the field of medicine and pharmacy, without giving up their passion for football, despite the severe attacks and various accusations of their religious.

From Sudan, a love story during the Civil War, through the film "Akasha" directed by Hajoj Koca, presented during the week of criticism at the Venice Film Festival, one of the heroes of the Sudanese revolution, who loves to fight as much as his love for his lover. The film deals with the pursuit of life in the shadow of the war.

The festival's share in the Arab Maghreb includes three films, one of which is directed by Tunisian director Najib Belkadi and tells the story of a young man who emigrated to France and was forced to return to Tunisia to take care of his autistic son, a scene full of emotions and scenes reflecting the social and political situation in Tunisia. Al-Kil "by Moroccan director Mohsen Basri, which highlights the social suffering of the poor and the problems of the health system in Morocco, in terms of corruption and neglect, as well as the overcrowding experienced by the fragility of infrastructure.

The third film is "The Wind of Rabbani" directed by the Algerian director Marzak Allouache and deals with the theme of extremism and terrorism. It tells the story of a young man and a woman sent by terrorist groups to commit a suicide attack against an oil installation in Algeria. One before the attack, a love story changes unilaterally destiny.

"Tiger House" also hosts an evening of honor for the late director Jocelyn Saab, in tribute to it. The workshop will be hosted by director Hadi Zakkak. Fawaz Traboulsi, Michel Tien and Malak Marwa will take part in a triennial look at the end of March,

A special evening for video clips takes place at KED-Karentina.

The show will be held at Metropolis Ampere Sofil, while Dar Al Nimr will host the programs "Look in Gaza". A screening of the film "Al Samouni Road" takes place in the Beddawi refugee camp. Other performances will be held at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, at the Seville Cinema in Sidon and at the artist's house in Hamana.

21 projects under development and nearing completion

At the Beirut Film Festival March 29-31

Twenty-one film projects will take place at the Beirut International Film Festival, which will take place from March 29 to 31 at the Bristol Hotel Beirut at the Beirut Film Week and will constitute a joint production platform for 40 specialists and Lebanese and Arab producers.

The official forum competition includes 14 projects under development, seven under construction and eight stand-alone projects.

The projects under development are: Tunisia, Foulat and Ras Al Ras, Egypt by Abi Hassan Fathi and Jouil, Algeria from the Tourist Complex and Last Queen, from Lebanon to The Passion according to Andrew, and "The world is sad and beautiful "and" Dog ", from Libya" Once in Tripoli – The Patricia ", in addition to A respectable family (Tunisia, Palestine) and We will sit under the fig tree (Jordan), Palestine).

Current projects are: Lebanon a long blast, Beirut Hold 'em, State of Agitation, Eye of the Architect, Glass House (Syria, Lebanon), Tunisia "The Deceiver in Kubba" and "You will die in the twentieth century" (Sudan, Egypt)).

The Beirut Film Festival is organized by the Beirut DC Association and the Lebanese Film Foundation in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, the British Council, the Doha Film Foundation and the International Organization for the Promotion of Investment in Lebanon (IDAL). In addition to the host partner, the Bristol Hotel, with the support of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut, Mount Lebanon, the National Center for Cinema and Photography and the embassies of Switzerland, Italy and Brazil in Beirut.

Industry Impact Laboratory from March 26th to March 29th

Workshop on the role of documentary films in social change

As part of the "Good Pitch in Arabic" program, which is part of the activities of the Beirut Film Week, a four-day interactive interactive workshop entitled "Impact Lab" is organized. Participants form a new professional role called "- Impact Producer, represented in the industry's impact through documentaries to serve community issues and contribute to" community change " .

The Impact Industry Lab will be held at the Bristol Hotel from March 26th to 29th and will bring together 31 participants from the Arab world who will be the first generation of skilled professionals to act as "impact producers" .

Nine long documentaries from seven Arab countries will serve as a base and platform for documentary filmmakers to bring about profound societal changes and explore the growing interactive relationship between cinema and civil society. The nine films are: "Turbulent Land" by Rahab Sharida (Palestine / Australia) and "My Eyes" by Yasmin Fadah (Palestine / United Kingdom), "Bab El Sharq" by Haram Lamido Ali (Iraq). (Morocco), "The day I eat fish" of Al-Kashef (Egypt) and "We Are There" by Liam Tanios (Lebanon) and "The Grand Family" directed by Eliane Monk (Lebanon) and production from Lara Abu Saifan (Palestine – Lebanon).

Professional trainers will familiarize participants with the role that society can play in the development, financing and distribution of films, while civil society representatives will learn how to use them to meet the needs of the people they advocate.

"A large number of films produced in the Arab world deal with topics as complex as gender, gender, social and economic rights, commitment to civil action, war, revolution, etc. Untapped potential for real societal impact through cinema. "

"The time has come for Arab cinema to build a strong alliance with the grassroots community and realize its full potential as an effective tool for change," he added.

It is worth mentioning that the "Industry Impact Laboratory" is organized by the Beirut DC Association in collaboration with the Doc Society, with the support of the Ford Foundation and with the participation of the British Council in Lebanon. The host partner is the Bristol Hotel Beirut.