BEIRUT, 1 October 2006 — After a three-year hiatus due to political unrest and financial uncertainty — and after a war that nearly threw the whole thing off track all over again — the Beirut International Film Festival is back.
The event opens Wednesday under the slogan “Make Films, Not War,” aiming to revive the Lebanese capital’s vibrant arts scene from under the shadow of conflict.
“Cinema is a wonderful medium to learn about other cultures, to become more tolerant. That’s why we decided to go ahead with the festival despite the holdups caused by the war,” said festival director Colette Naufal.
This year’s festival showcases 18 feature films and two documentaries, in only the seventh edition of what was to have been an annual event launched a decade ago but which has often been disrupted by political and security chaos.
“It was going to be canceled because of a lack of financial support, but we felt the need to resurrect it and face up to war with culture,” said Iara Lee, president of the US foundation Lee and Gund, which put up the funding.
The logo of this year’s Oct. 4-11 festival — the first since 2003 — is a phoenix rising from the ashes.
The festival opens with the critically acclaimed tragicomedy “Volver” (To Return) by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, a story of family secrets starring Penelope Cruz as a working-class mother.
It reaches a finale with “The Yacoubian Building” by Marwan Hamed, a love story and examination of the roots of militancy based on a bestseller by the Cairo dentist-turned-author Alaa El-Aswani.
Among the other films is “Offside” by Iranian director Jaafar Panahi, which tells the tale of six young women who dress up as men to watch a World Cup qualifying match in Tehran in defiance of a ban on female spectators.
Another highly anticipated movie is Bader bin Hirsi’s “A New Day in Old Sanaa,” deemed the first proper feature filmed in Yemen.
“Beirut ma Betmout” (Beirut Never Dies) is a six-minute documentary which shows the destruction wrought on Beirut’s Shiite southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah, during the group’s July-August war with Israel.
Director Katia Jarjoura’s other short, “Terminator,” is set against the backdrop of the massive demonstration on March 14, 2005 after the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri.
Brian Cook’s “Color Me Kubrick” and fellow British director Steven Frear’s “The Queen” are also to be screened, and from the United States comes “Maria Full of Grace” by Joshua Marston.
“Kilometer Zero” by Hiner Saleem and “A New Day in Old Sanaa” by Bader bin Hirsi make rare appearances for Kurdish and Yemeni feature films.
Bent Hammer’s “Factotum” starring Matt Dillon is based on Charles Bukowski’s novel of the same name, while Laila Marrakchi’s “Marrock” is a love story set in Casablanca, and Georgian director Gela Babluani is showing “13 Tzameti.”
No prizes are up for grabs in the week-long festival, but the organizers hope for guest appearances by big names such as Adel Imam who stars as an aging romantic in “The Yacoubian Building.”
— With input from agencies
