Monday, April 13, 2009

Young Talents

Watching Lebanese shorts is always an amusing experience. The only bad thing about them, is that they are dispersed and not always easy to find: most of them are not available online, the rest might not be available in high quality or HD.
I believe the young Lebanese should not hesitate in posting their videos online, I find that vimeo provides a good place for artists to share their creations in their original quality.
Few months ago, I spotted on vimeo Chadi Younes page, and was amused by his stylish videos and the classy art. The finesse of his work uncovers this artist as one with a bright forthcoming carrier .



Haflet Taraf by Rima Kcheich - حفلة ترف لريما خشيش

The song by Rima khcheich in the above video only adds to the value of the artwork, which both emphasis on the ongoing situation in Lebanon and the Arab world.

Among the available online Lebanese artworks, I found a good short film depicting what a Lebanese director endure in order to guarantee enough financial support for a given work. Wissam Smayra was lucky to gather in that film what some calls Lebanese "artists' constellation" with major directors, with Nadine Labaki playing a major role.



Es'alni Ana by Sofia Marrikh - اسألني أنا لصوفيا مرّيخ

The above video is one video is a striking one by Smayra, the sensual images and cinematography are not matched in any other work I've seen before, I rate the surreal yet classic video as a success, and believe others agree.

The list of Lebanese artists cannot be covered in one post, but I hope in the future I'll be able to cover other works as I did in the case of Beirut After Shave before the release of the long feature by Hany Tamba. This task can get easier if the youth agree to get out of shadows and share their achievement with the rest to be able to value them. In vimeo, creating a group is among the easiest task, maybe it can be a start to have a library for artists and producers as well.