44. Are there Lebanese movies ? Where I can find them ? Can you give some opinions about these movies ?
Description
This article is from the Lebanon FAQ, by Alaa Dakroub dakroub@leb.net with numerous contributions by others.
44. Are there Lebanese movies ? Where I can find them ? Can you give some opinions about these movies ?
Data and History:
Lebanese movies industry exists since decades now. The war affected
the production of the films as it affected anything else.
The sixties was the heydays of Lebanese cinema. The Lebanese cinema
"was" lyrical and poetic and touched on some heavy topics without
being heavy handed and propagandistic.
A good source for data on movies in general is the "Internet Movie
Database": http://www.msstate.edu/Movies/search.html Actually only the
data of few films is availble. People should think of adding Data they
know of.
List of known films:
1.Al-Risalah (1976) 6.2/10
...aka Message, The (1976)
...aka Mohammad, Messenger of God (1976)
2.Ana El Awan (1994)
...aka Histoire d'un Retour (1994)
...aka Time Has Come (1994)
3.Bayar al khaouatem (1965)
4.Biya el-Khawatim (1965)
5.Homme Voile, L' (1987)
...aka Veiled Man, The (1987)
6.Kanya Ya Ma Kan, Beyrouth (1994)
...aka Es war einmal Beirut - Geschichte eines Stars (1994)
...aka Il etait une fois Beyrouth - histoire d'une star (1994)
...aka Once Upon a Time In Beirut (1994)
7.Kanya Ya Ma Kan, Beyrouth (1994)
...aka Es war einmal Beirut - Geschichte eines Stars (1994)
...aka Il etait une fois Beyrouth - histoire d'une star (1994)
...aka Once Upon a Time In Beirut (1994)
8.Leila wa al ziap (1984)
9.Whither, by Georges Nasr
10.Red Roses, by Georges Qa3ee
11.al-isar, by Samir Habchi
...aka the Tornado
12.ana al-awan, by Jean Claude Qodsi
Where to find:
Check out the Arab Film Society in Seattle... they have a Web Page, Look
them up via Yahoo. They feature a lot of Lebanese movies...
Opinions:
[Each personal opinion is included within two lines of '-']
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A couple Lebanese productions came out in the last 3 years : "al i@Sar"
and "ana l-awan" ("the Tornado" and "the time has come"). The first one
is a very well made russian/lebanese production, with great
cinematography and msuic (both by Russian artists).
The second one was directed by Jean Claude Qodsi, and although I haven't
seen it, many of my friends have and they all agree: it's a terrible
waste of money and talent. Nothing about this film is good except the
Music (by Toufic Farroukh ).
On a more positive side, I know that there is a lot of young talent
which is blooming in Lebanon. A recent short film made by young director
Eliane Raheb (shot by a French cinematographer) won a prize at the
Venice film festival if I remember correctly. I saw the film, and it was
quite interesting. The film was about a movie theater in Zahle which was
being closed down, a welcome change from the "return" motif that is
omnipresent in modern Lebanese art.
There are also other young directors who are working on interesting
projects. Some names to look out for in the next 5 years are Jean
Jebran, Sarmad Louis, Hagop Dermagosian (sp?), and others.
Another flourishing film sub-industry is the Video-clip industry. Many
serious directors are being commissionned by the different TV stations
to work on video clips for Lebanese songs. Some of the videos are made
by foreign directors, but most are totally local productions. One
director who has done some good work is Charles Saleme, who made the
videos for "baladiyyatu Bayrut" (by Ousama Rahbani), as well as "ba@d
el-li kaan" (by Marcel Khalife). Samir Habchi has also made at least one
clip.
These clips are facing a lot of pressure from censors in Lebanon, by the
way. The government is VERY sensitive to anything that might touch its
image, and the least reference (or perceived reference) to anything
governmental (i.e. Holy) is facing censure... Maybe the ministers just
want to pocket some barTil so they make the artists' lives difficult.
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