I was watching Yasmine Hamdan, another highly talented Lebanese artist, when I read about Ely Dagher winning the Palme D’or at the 69th Cannes Film Festival for his short movie Waves ’98. Ely is the first Lebanese to make it to the official selection since Maroun Baghdadi’s film in 1982 and the 29-year old has become the first Lebanese to receive the Palme d’Or since Baghdadi.
Ely’s 14-minute long film is “about Omar, a high-school kid living in the northern suburb of Beirut, struggling in his social bubble”. I couldn’t find yet the full movie online but I will share it as soon as I do.
Congrats to Ely and I’m sure this is just the start for our young and talented director.
I find it amusing, yet baffling, that the Lebanese people feel proud of the achievements of their compatriots (which apparently also include getting married to George Clooney). Imagine if an American blog posted about how proud he/she is that James Cameron won an Oscar.
i agree on george clooney thing, yet we are a very small country that mainly goes into headlines coupled with news of violence, so accomplishments in other fields by Lebanese people, showing a different face of Lebanon is a pretty nice thing.
Good point but read my response to the last comment — this achievement is admirable and commendable. What annoys me is the Lebanese public reaction that ALWAYS goes overboard.
Do you know why you won’t find a proud American blogger’s post when James Cameron wins an oscar? Because he’s Canadian!
At least get your facts straight when you try to be a smart-ass and are baffled when someone is merely congratulating his compatriot, for what is a great achievement all things considered.
Don’t be upset. Would Canadians celebrate Cameron for winning an Oscar?
http://www.closetcanuck.com/2010/02/james-cameron-and-jason-reitman-among.html
http://www.nationalpost.com/Oscar+Canadian+connections+First+gold+medals+then+gold/2632487/story.html
http://news.moviefone.com/2010/02/04/cameron-and-reitman-canadas-pride-and-joy/
And there’s a lot more where that came from. Just try to be a little less douchey next time since the author clearly didn’t go overboard and maybe go criticize someone who actually did.
YES WE DO!!
James Cameron is Canadian
I’m sorry to say your argument makes no sense.
Americans don’t celebrate their cinematic achievements because they own Hollywood. It’s sort of like patting themselves in the back. What are they gonna say to James Cameron? Congrats, you made it all they way to the USA?
But when an American citizen competes on an international level, like the Olympics or the World Cup, an area in which the USA still lags behind, the whole country stands behind their team.
This is why everyone’s cheering for Ely’s victory at Cannes. It’s not everyday that a Lebanese film wins the Palme D’Or.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that this achievement is perhaps the only one worth celebrating in a very long time. What really annoys me is that 80% of the Lebanese people have never heard of this guy before but are now sharing the story and changing their profile pictures to his using the #respect and #proudtobelebanese hashtags. The James Cameron this is just an example but even if the USA team qualifies to the final in some tournament, you won’t find people overdoing it like us. Sure there are some diehard fans for every team everywhere but we really go overboard into the obnoxious.
Who cares if you were at One beirut watching Yasmine Hamdan.
Do you want to tell us that you are a hot shot VIP now who gets invited to hype concerts in VIP venues across Lebanon
Waw!
Maroun Baghdadi received the Jury Prize, not a Palme d’Or. A Jury Prize is like an honorable mention, but it’s not a full blown award. Ely Dagher is in fact the first Lebanese ever to win a Palme d’Or.