13 May 2006

BEIRUT: When it comes to Lebanon's international arts festivals, Tripoli tends to be somewhat off the beaten track. No more. Over the next two weeks, Tripoli's German Dialogue Centre, in partnership with the Italian and French embassies, is hosting its own European Film Festival, screening seven feature-length films and six shorts from Lebanon, Italy, Germany and France.

The aim of the festival is to enhance mutual understanding by promoting cultural exchange between Europe and Lebanon.

The festival opened last night with "Zennar al-Nar" ("Ring of Fire"), the debut feature by Lebanon's Bahij Hojeij. This intriguing and mysterious film, shot completely in digital video, adapts Rashid al-Daif's novel "The Obstinate."

It's 1985 and the Lebanese Civil War has been raging for 10 years. In a ruined city there are checkpoints at every turn and nobody knows who's in charge. During a lull in the troubles Chafic (Nida Wakim), an elegant university professor, returns to his apartment.

On the surface, nothing has changed. He thinks he just has to clear some dust, fix the blinds and return to teaching his course in French literature. Chafic starts his class by reading the opening of Albert Camus' "The Plague." He has just read the ominous words about rats infesting Oran when shelling interrupts him. Everyone flees, scurrying to the cellar, much like the rats in the novel.

Then Chafic has a moment of sensual frisson with an unknown woman. This brief encounter changes his life. Certain of having found love and human connection, he is unable to find her again.

"Zennar al-Nar" maintains a sense of menace to the end. The atmosphere is tense. There is no safe haven, and Beirut of yesterday becomes a chilling image of our world at war today.

An upcoming festival highlight is the May 20 screening of the Italian film "Io non ho paura" ("I'm Not Scared"). Set in beautiful southern Italy in 1978, this story about 10-year-old Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) is part thriller, part coming-of-age tale.

Michele and his friends spend their uncomplicated lives playing in the sun-scorched hills around their tiny village. Then Michele's blissful innocence ends when he discovers a boy his age imprisoned in a hole in an abandoned building. To his horror he finds out that most of the grown-ups in the tiny community are in on the sordid secret.

In line with its aim to enhance cultural understanding, the festival is closing on May 21 with "One Day in Europe," about a Champion's League final between Turkey's Galatasaray and Spain's Deportivo La Corua, being played in Moscow.

The film relates four colorful, light-hearted stories about quirky characters and the amusing misunderstandings that cross-cultural communication often provokes. On a single day in four different cities and in eight different languages, these barriers are all compounded by match-day chaos.

Tripoli's European Film Festival runs May 13-14 and May 18-21. All screenings are being held at Mina's al-Rabita al-Thaqafia. Admission is free.