The 13th edition of the Beirut International Film Festival is taking place between the 2nd and 10th of October at Planète Abraj in Furn El Shebbak, Beirut. The festival opened with Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” and will close with “The Immigrant” by the American director James Gray.
Out of the 77 movies showing in this festival, there are 21 movies by Lebanese directors, most of which are short movies. Here are some of the Lebanese movies as mentioned in [Alyamiyya]’s comprehensive post on the BIFF.
Lebanese Corner
The Lebanese Corner has been dedicated to short films that are not taking part in the competition. It includes 10 movies by young Lebanese directors. “A Tempo: 3’D Act” by Maria Abdel Karim, “, “Conflict 1949-1979” by Joseph Khallouf, “Departures” by Wissam Tanios, “Zbelet el Hay” ( “Discarded memories”) by Cynthia Bou Zeid, “J’ai dix ans” by Hadi Moussalli, “Bantalon” (The Pants) produced by & starring Josiane Boulos and directed by the French Clément Vieu, “Memorial” by Clara Kosseifi, , “Mish Mhem” by Marwa Karouny, “Al Nas Yakhtafoun Toula El Waket” (People disappear all the time) by Cyril Nehme, “, “Oustourat Saleh Sharif” (The Myth of Saleh Sharif) by Zahi Farah.
Documentary
In the Middle Eastern Documentary competition, seven movies are competing. The Aleph award will be also granted to the best movie in this category, the best director and the special award of the jury.
These movies are “Mina al Atma” (“Out of Darkness”) by Sonia Habib, “Dakhalt Marra el Jneineh” ( “Once I Entered the Garden”) by the Lebanese Jean Hatem, “Sutra” by the French Stephane Allegret, Catherine Dirand and the French-Lebanese Maria Boulos, “Bedouin Woman” by the Kurdish Hashim Al-Ifari, “Broken Border” by the Kurdish director Keywan Karimi, “Feeding 500” by the Emirati Rafid Al Harthi, and “Crop” by the German Johanna Domke and the Egyptian Marouan Omara.
Short Films’ Competition
The movies listed in this category are: “Kaliloun Mina El Shay” ( “A little bit of Tea”) by the Lebanese Ali Shiran, “Etenité d’Amour” by the Lebanese Mike Malajalian, “Wahabtouka al Moutaa” (“I Offered You Pleasure”) by the Lebanese Farah Shaer, “Memex” by the Lebanese Gaelle Sassine, “Sanctity” by the Saudi Ahed Kamel, “Scrap” by the Saudi Bader El Hommoud, “Tlat Shamaat” (“3 Candles”)by the Egyptian Ahmed Fouad, “Sidhom” by the Egyptian Mina Nabil, “Sihr El Farasha” (“Butterfly Charm”) by the Egyptian Romany Saad, “Baghdad Messi” by the Iraqi director Sahim Omar Kalifa, “Bobby” by the Tunisian Mehdi El Barsaoui, “Deira” (“Circle”) by the Egyptian Kamal El Mallakh, “Khayal” (Silhouette) by the Iraqi- Kurdish Kamiran Betasi, “Samaka Barriya” (“Wild Fish”) by the Iraqi Oday Manea, “AL Rihla” (“The Journey”) by the Emirati Hana Makki, and “Patika” by the French-Turkish director Onur Yagiz.
You can check out the full schedule [Here].