In the shadows of the city - طيف المدينة

a screenshot from "In the Shadows of the City"

This film is among the first produced after the civil war that ravaged Lebanon, so it's natural to find it falling into the category that tries to discuss this issue, and more precisely, we found this movie dealing with the evolution of the Lebanese citizen mind with respect to a conflict ravaging its country.
The starting scene shows a family in the south of the country suffering after fights erupts in that region to decide later to go settle in the capital. The main character is Rami a 12 years old boy of this southern family, he grows to be incarnated by Majdi Machmouchi who plays the role in a highly professional way playing a militia man, an ambulance guy, and a person in love.
Despite the fact that during the shooting of the movie, the reconstruction of Lebanon was on its way, the movie team managed, in some sort of race with time, to get pretty successful shots of the Beirut during the war period, mainly focusing on areas and discreet that have'nt being hit by the reconstruction phase and remained in ruins long after the war is over.
Jean Khalil Chamoun did a great job with his first long feature fiction, with a plot, that does not include any surprises, yet the purpose was to show the influence of the war that manipulates people. He managed to include prominent actors like Ahmad Al Zein and Ammar Chalak... The original music by Omar Bashir was well touching. I'm not aware of other fictions by Chamoun, since he's apparently focusing mainly on documentaries for the moment.
The movie was not a box-office hit in Lebanon once it has been released in 2000, mainly because Lebanese were trying to put (and maybe forget) the past behind focusing on the future. Every Lebanese is urged to watch movies of this kind as a faithful description of the civil war and as a way of understanding that civil fighting does not induce gain to any party.

Dunia - دنيا

Kiss me not on the eyes (Dunia - دنيا) was quite a special movie. First of all, it's an Egyptian movie (if we judge it by the cast, the subject, the location), yet the story, the direction was done by the Lebanese prominent director Jocelyne Saab.
It deals with the issues of females circumcision in Egypt. To do this the director, with a pretty nice cast, made up a story involving love, dance, poetry... all mixed up together into an unusual good sensual Egyptian movie.
The reception of the movie in Egypt was rather disappointing with all the censoring going there, although the film was trying to tackle the circumcision issue from a relative distance so it would be accepted by the Egyptian community.
Jocelyne Saab had been absent from the middle-eastern movies industry scene for about a decade before this movie was revealed. Waiting was surely worth it, her latest is a short named "Broken bridges" or "الجسور المدمرة" about the Israeli indiscriminate aggressive war on the Lebanon. We're waiting for her latest long feature.

Trailer for "Dunia"

Upcoming movies in 2008

So, the year 2007 have almost ended, with films being welcomed by critics such as "Caramel", and "a lost man". "Under the bombs" or "تحت القصف" by Philipe Aractingi - Director of Bosta - will be released on December 20th in Lebanon to continue showing through trough the upcoming 2008 new year. This film have received pretty good critics, and its trailer looks promising. We should note as well the many awards won by this movie, The Gold Muhr award as well as the best actress award for Nada Abou Farhat was awarded lately during the Dubai Film Festival.

Trailer of "Under the bombs"

"Falling from earth" or "و على الأرض السماﺀ" by Chadi Zeneddine, is scheduled to be released later in 2008 and has already premiered during Dubai Film Festival. Some making of the movie have been released lately, with a great cast including Rafic Ali Ahmad, this movie cannot be but something good (Note that this movie was first titled as "Waiting for Beirut").

Making of "Falling from earth"

"Khalass" or "خلص" by Borhan Alaouie has just been released into some theaters in Lebanon. It's ashame that this movie isn't showing on a much greater scale. Maybe because it have not been considered as a commercial movie. It should be noted as well that this movie have been shown as well during the Dubai Film Festival where it have been awarded two awards: the Best Screenplay award and Best Editor Award.

Stills from "Khalass"

"Melodram habibi" or "ميلودراما حبيبي" the first feature by Hany Tamba - Director of Beyrouth after shave - is scheduled to be released as well in 2008 with a mix between a french and Lebanese team. We're expecting the best from a Cezar winner.

Making of "Melodrama Habibi"

With three movies scheduled to be released till now, we hope that the year 2008 will be a good year for the Lebanese film industry despite all the political conflict in the country and the region. Some films are still under developement, but the release date is not yet clear, for instance Joanna Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige - Directors of A perfect day - are working on some project with Catherine Deneuve called "Je veux voir".

Photo from "Je veux voir"

Finally, I'll remind that "Caramel" is set to be released in american theaters on February 1st 2008 (distributed by Roadside Attractions). The American trailer can be seen below.

The American trailer for "Caramel"

Beirut after shave - بيروت بعد الحلاقة

"After shave" the award winning short

OK, you must have find it yourself, but I should note that this post will be the first about a short feature, all past posts were orbiting the long features from Lebanon. It's also as you might have find out yourself the first posts where you can watch the whole video that the post is about (not just a trailer). Passing this introduction, if I can call it that, the short tell the story of one man who couldn't accept the death of his wife during the war. The cast was impressive, grouping Rafic Ali Ahmad along with Julia Kassar and having Mahmoud Mabsout and Fadi Raaydi, no wonder it earned the Cezar, what would it got if it was a long!! The story is nicely written, the music is sensual as well (no surprise here since Khaled mouzanar, Caramel's composer is the one who made it for this short, and Labaki chose him after hearing his work in this movie). It was too good for a short, pretty well done. The only regret is that the director didn't hire a Lebanese-only artistic team, it is not bad to have international collaboration, but it would've been good to find what Lebanese can achieve themself. But sometimes this kind of constraints is imposed by the kind of finance a film get. Anyway Hany Tamba did a great job, you can tell yourself since you can watch the whole short here and tell your opinion. We only wish the best for Tamba, and cannot wait to see his new film Melodrama Habibi out.
Below you can find an interview during the filming of "Melodrama Habibi", more interviews about this movie can be found on my youtube channel.

Interview with Hany Tamba about Melodrama Habibi

Zozo - زوزو

Trailer for "Zozo"

This film is a Lebanese-Swedish movie, directed by the Lebanese-Swedish Joseph Fares. It's not the first to show the Lebanese civil war from children eyes (check for West Beirut, and In the Battlefields) but it shows how the war and its consequences follows a kid beyond the country's borders. So for a boy, once in Sweden, his life is not necessary easier than how it was back in a flaming Lebanon. In fact, I found that in this movie, Zozo's life in Lebanon was full (relatively) of joy, while when he arrived to Sweden it was reduced almost only to disappointments, some may think that it contradicts expectations, some my not share the same opinion, but either way, it was a beautiful way to present such a transition for a young child. In fact, it goes beyond to show how hard for an immigrant (young or old) to integrate into a foreign society (here the grandfather mark a good example).
From what I could've understand, the story is a fiction, but related somewhat to the director's life since he left Lebanon during the civil war when he was ten years old. Following Danielle Arbid and Ziad Doueiri's way to make peace with their past.
Globally the film was good, make fair use of special effects (I think that funding films in Sweden is easier than Lebanon). Actors were pretty good as well; Antoinette Turk's (playing Rita) acted nicely,
Imad Creidi's (as Zozo) role surprised me with his Swedish language and good performance for a child of his age. And then there is Carmen Lebbos, playing perfectly, as she always do, the mother role model.
The script was nicely written from a child eyes, things go smoothly. Though I should point to some minor flaws that come up when trying to see things rationally. For instance, how can a ten years old child go from east Beirut to the mountains (walking??!), then to the airport that easy in a city shredded into two parts? Then once in Sweden writing to Rita without having her address.
In the end I remind that this feature was the representative for Sweden for the 78th academy awards. It needs to be seen since it's a nicely done good movie.