Sept '06 Despite heavy Israeli bombardment, and an embargo lifted only days before the start date, The Ayam Beirut Al-Cinema'iya festival was held as planned in Beirut's Hamra and Ashrafiyah districts from September 16-24. Festival co-Director Eliane Raheb described it as a form of "cultural resistence" as guest directors from around the world accepted the festival's invitation to attend, hardly a month since the signing of the fragile cease-fire. Under the circumstances, this year's programme had to be cut down from over 100 films to just 40.The selection included films about the Arab world - from the world premiere of Lebanese director Michel Kammoun's Falafel to James Longley's latest documentary Iraq in Fragments, winner of the Director's Award at this year's Sundance festival. Beirut DC, the independent film cooperative organising the festival, were inspired by a letter from film-makers at July's Biennale du Cinema Arabe in Paris, urging them to run the festival despite the dangers. Videos Under Seige was soon delivered - a series of over 20 short video letters from Lebanese film-makers both in the country and stranded abroad, reacting to life under the Israeli blockade. Tourist co-Director Saeed Taji Farouky and regular collaborator Joe Lewis (of London's Dojo Studios) filmed the festival, as well as events in Southern Lebanon and Beirut's suburbs, for a short documentary about this unlikely war-zone film festival. Stay tuned for more on the film, A Midsummer Night's War. |
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