Film festival opens in Beirut
Lebanon, Culture, 10/20/1997

Lebanon's first film festival opened Saturday in the heart of the Lebanese capital Beirut, a place which once witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the civil war and a symbol of Lebanon's destruction and revival.

The festival, the first of its kind, faces the challenge of putting Lebanon back on the international film scene, after many years of absence. The festival promises some 40 films, documentaries and clips. Among them are movies that feature the effects of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, the ongoing war against Israeli occupation forces in south Lebanon and the massive reconstruction projects underway in most parts of the country.

"I am speaking from the heart of Beirut which is rising... from the ashes of fire and destruction to regain its pioneering role in civilization," Minister of Culture and Higher Education Fawzi Hobeish said at the opening of the festival.

Eight Lebanese and Arab feature-length films will be screened along with a selection picked by Lebanese film students at the festival, which runs through October 24. There will be an Arabic new-generation film, Lebanese commercials, Arabic music clips, TV series and documentaries.

Among the films which will be screened is "The Veiled Man" by award-winning director Maroun Baghdadi, who died in 1993. The Veiled Man portrays the civil war through the eyes of the Lebanese community in France.

Another feature called "Between Us Two-Beirut" tells the story of two Lebanese sisters separated by war. One lived in Belgium and followed the war from afar, while the other lived through it.

Akram Zaatari's "All Is Well on the Border" chronicles events in southern Lebanon where Lebanese guerrillas are trying to force Israel out of a border enclave it has occupied since 1985.

Among the foreign films at the festival is Michel Khleifi's "Wedding in Galilee," which tells the story of a Palestinian wedding in a village under Israeli martial law.

Nineteen different prizes, including an award for best foreign film, will be awarded at the closing ceremony.

Previous Stories:
  Father of Lebanese cinema dies   (9/25/1997)
  Filmmakers to get a chance at first international festival   (9/9/1997)

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