27 November 2008
BEIRUT: The 15th European Film Festival hits Beirut on Friday, and will be in residence at Cinema Sofil through December 7. A selection of films from 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union will be presented to Beirut audiences. The festival opens with an invitation-only event featuring French director Arnaud Desplechin's film "Un Conte de Noel." Starring screen legend Catherine Deneuve, it tells the story of a family wracked by physical and mental illness and was an official selection at Cannes this summer.
Michael Miller, counselor at the Delegation of the European Commission to Lebanon, explained at a press conference earlier this week that it was the mission of the festival to bring such high-caliber films to Beirut audiences.
"We are not a commercial festival, there will be no 'blockbuster' movies," he said. "We are showing films of great artistic merit that would not otherwise make it to Lebanon."
For the European Union, 2008 marks the Year of Inter-cultural Dialogue, which has informed the choice of films. Belgian director Marion Hansel traveled to Djibouti for her film "Si le vent souleve les sables" ("Sounds of Sand"), telling the story of a family's journey across a desert to escape the twin perils of drought and war.
In her film "Cherry Blossoms," German director Dorris Dorrie follows the adventures in Japan of a man determined to fulfill the dreams of his recently deceased wife.
Other highlights of the festival include Lars von Trier's latest project "The Boss of it All." This comedy of mistaken identity may surprise fans of the Danish director, who will be familiar his bleaker and more grueling projects such as "Dancer in the Dark" and "Dogville."
Another prize-winner at Cannes, Anton Corbjin's biopic of Ian Curtis, is one of the contributions from the UK. Filmed in black and white, "Control" follows the events leading up to the suicide of lead singer of the legendary band Joy Division.
Closing the festival will be a Lebanese film, Samir Habchi's "Beirut Open City," a voyage through the Beirut underworld. Not yet released in Lebanon, the showing at the festival will be as an avant-premiere.
This year, there will be an offshoot of the festival in Tripoli. Between December 12 and December 14, Tripoli's Cinema City Complex will play host to a selection of films from countries including Hungary, Austria and Italy. These films are exclusive to the Tripoli event and will not be shown in Beirut.
There is also an educational element to the festival. Several directors and scriptwriters will be attending to talk about their films, including Martin Provost and Marc Abdelnour, director and scriptwriter of French entry "Seraphine." These guests will all be giving workshops with students from Lebanon's audiovisual schools.
A selection of 18 short films made by Lebanese students will be showing throughout the festival. The Delegation of the European Commission will be awarding a prize of 1,500 euros (about $1,800) for best Lebanese short film, in addition to a special jury prize of 500 euros, with the aim of encouraging young talent.
In collaboration with Fondation Liban Cinema, there will also be a scriptwriting workshop for Lebanese fiction feature films. Following a call for participants, five scripts were selected. The authors will be working with professional scriptwriters Jacques Akchoti of France and Ghassan Salhab of Lebanon.
The two professionals will meet with the scriptwriters both individually and in groups with the aim of making the selected scripts attractive to international producers.
Copyright The Daily Star 2008.
