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Newsletter April 2019

1. ERASED,___ASCENT OF THE INVISIBLE in Beirut, Berlin, Cairo, Cologne, Gabes, Marseille and New York
2. COUNTING TILES honored and showing in Beirut and Berlin
3. PANOPTIC honored in Argentina and showing in Berlin
4. DRY HOT SUMMERS in Angers
5. AND AN IMAGE WAS BORN in Amman
6. Publication - FUNDING GUIDE FOR ARAB PRODUCERS
7. DVD of the month - BIRDS OF SEPTEMBER
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1. ERASED,___ASCENT OF THE INVISIBLE in Beirut, Berlin, Cairo, Cologne, Gabes, Marseille and New York      

Ghassan Halwani's essay documentary was honored with a sprecial mention at the LatinArab Film Festival in BuenosAires. In April the film is showing at Ayam Beirut (Lebanon), ALFILM - Arab Film Festival Berlin (Germany), the Cairo Cinema Days (Egypt), at Allerweltskino in Cologne (Germany), The Mediterranean Film Festival in Gabes (Tunis), Aflam Marseille (France) as wel as the Art Of the Real Film Festival at Lincoln Center in New York (USA).

Content
Thirty-five years ago, I witnessed the kidnapping of a man I know.
He has disappeared since.
Ten years ago, I caught a glimpse of his face while walking in the street, but I wasn’t sure it was him.
Parts of his face were torn off, but his features had remained unchanged since the incident. Yet something was different, as if he wasn’t the same man.
essay-documentary, Lebanon 2018, color and black & white, 76 min, Arabic and English with English subtitles
more about the film
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2. COUNTING TILES honored and showing in Beirut and Berlin      

Cynthia Choucair's feature documentary was honored with a special mention at the International Women's Film Festival in Aswan (Egypt). In April it shows at Ayam Beirut (Lebanon) and ALFILM the Arab Film Festival in Berlin (Germany).

Content
A group of clowns travel to the Greek island of Lesvos on a mission to bring laughter to the waves of refugees crossing the sea to escape from war and enter Europe. Unwittingly, the clowns find themselves greeted with closed gates witnessing the effects of new policies enacted by the European Union towards the refugees.
Cynthia, the sister of one of the clowns, joins them on their journey which slowly becomes a reflection on the sisters’ own tale of displacement during the Lebanese civil war.
documentary, Cynthia Choucair, Lebanon 2018, 87 min, Arabic with Engl. ST
more about the film
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3. PANOPTIC honored in Argentina and showing in Berlin      

Rana Eid's as personal as political feature documentary was awarded a special mention at the LatinArab Film Festival in Buenoas Aires (Argentina) last month. In April it is showing at ALFILM, the Arab Film Festival Berlin (Germany), in the presence of the director.

Content
Panoptic is a letter from a daughter to her deceased father in an attempt to reconcile with her country’s turbulent past.
Panoptic delves into Beirut’s underground to explore Lebanon’s schizophrenia: a nation that thrives for modernity while ironically ignoring the vices that obstruct achieving this modernity.
While the Lebanese population has chosen to turn a blind eye to these vices, Rana Eid, an ordinary citizen, explores the nation’s paradoxes through sound, iconic monuments and secret hidings.
documentary, Rana Eid, Lebanon 2017, 69 min, Arabic with Engl. or French ST
more about the film
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4. DRY HOT SUMMERS in Angers      

Sherif Elbendary's short story from Cairo is showing in April at the Africa Film Festival in Angers (France).

Content
Two lonely people at opposite chapters of life accidentally meet on a busy summer day in a Cairo taxi. Frail old Shawky and bubbly young Doaa are both caught up in their busy routines as their race through the city evolves into a journey of self-discovery that reconnects them to life.
short film, Sherif Elbendary, Egypt/Germany 2015, 30 min, color, digital, Arabic with English, French or German ST
more about the film
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5. AND AN IMAGE WAS BORN in Amman      

Firas Khoury's short film is shown at Zaha Cutural Center in Amman, in collaboration with the Jordanian Film Commission, in a special film day for children.

Content
Palestinian two years old Razi loves to hear the story of The Monster. The story is an allegory of the Palestinian problem but he is too young to comprehend the political association, he just wants to imagine and live through its details over and over again. The narrator has his own film in his head.
short film, Firas Khoury, Palestine 2017, 9 min, Arabic with English or French ST
more about the film
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6. Publication - FUNDING GUIDE FOR ARAB PRODUCERS      

The Funding Guide for Arab Producers is revised and republished. Produced by Beirut DC in cooperation with Terrso and compiled by Irit Neidhardt (mec film) the guide is open source and can be viewed or downloaded here. The guide is a companion for producers as well as a source for researchers on modes of film funding.
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7. DVD of the month - BIRDS OF SEPTEMBER      

Although Beirut looms over these people’s shoulders at all times, Birds of September represents an unexpected technical variation on the “city symphony.” ...By opting for slow, steady pans (motivated by a car traveling at human walking speed), Francis emphasizes her interviewees’ nostalgia, not the dynamism of the city they live in. (Film Comment)

Each element is only partially graspable – it’s possible to focus on the words, the face or the city behind them, but usually never all at once. At times it feels like tapping into Beirut’s unconscious, the streets and sky merging with anxieties about work, relationships and religion. The concept is stretched thin over its 100 minutes, but it’s a provocative and promising work. (Movie Morlocks)

Birds of September features a structural unity similar to the recent Sensory Ethnography Lab triumph Manakamana (2013), but Francis’s anecdotal narrative and less rigid visual language allows for a formulation of social intrigue unique to this promising first film. (The L Magazine)

Content
A glassed van roams the streets of Beirut, home to a camera that explores the city behind the glass. Along the way, several people are invited to share a personal moment in this moving confessional. Each one comes as a face, a body, a posture, a voice, an attitude, an emotion, a point of view, a memory. Their confessions are true, blunt, and intimate. However, soon enough, the van empties again, and roams Beirut; restlessly looking for something, for someone.

To most people, or at least to me, Beirut is a city in which everything becomes easily familiar: faces, streets, and sounds. All the elements interconnect, boundaries are undefined, everything seems to be constantly moving and intertwining ... Private space and anonymity seem practically impossible at times, and one finds himself constantly overwhelmed, taken by the city's chaos and almost forced to interact with it. This was my impression of this city when I decided to make the film. And the concept of this film is a somehow a reaction to this impression. The 'moving bubble' allowed me to take some distance from the city in order to try to dismantle its elements, filter the sounds and have intimate encounters while staying aware of the space around me. Soon enough, the safe bubble I was in became the bubble of each one of the random encounters I had along the way. Each one of us is in an isolated state of mind; and yet we all share the same space. (Sarah Francis)

Sarah Francis, Lebanon/Qatar 2013, 99 min, Arabic
subtitles: English, French on request
PAL, region free

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