Di Jimmy Dabbagh da The Daily Star (Libano) del 1 maggio 2015
Si concluderà il 6 maggio il festival del cinema di Tripoli, un evento che ha preso il via il 1° maggio con l’obiettivo di concentrare l’attenzione del pubblico su tematiche di stampo culturale. Il programma prevede la proiezione di 39 film provenienti da 20 paesi del mondo.
TRIPOLI FILM FESTIVAL REVIVING TROUBLED
Lebanon’s northern capital is stifled by perpetual bad press. Tripoli has a reputation for sectarian strife, aggravated by divided opinion about the nearby Syrian civil war, and abetted by occasional reports of automatic weapons fire in the neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen. Despite this stigma, there are those who believe that reviving Tripoli’s cultural scene is a crucial first step in shifting public and global perception. Film has provided one means of enriching the city’s cultural environment. In late 2013, filmmaker Jocelyne Saab collaborated with the city’s Cultural Resistance Association to spearhead the launch of the Tripoli International Film Festival. With screening venues in Tripoli and Beirut and a guest list of international and local filmmakers, TIFF (since renamed The Cultural Resistance International Film Festival) has many of the public components of an international film festival. Last spring filmmaker Elias Khlat spearheaded the creation of a second Tripoli Film Festival. This event’s second edition, which opened Thursday, offers a unique blend of regional and international films. At a news conference held Friday, some skepticism was expressed over the festival being held amid the current turmoil. Nonetheless Khlat, the festival director, optimistically assured the festival’s ability to thrive and attract goers. The Safadi Cultural Center is hosting an exhibition of film posters from all the works screening in the festival, along with biographies of their filmmakers. The Azm Cultural Center Wednesday hosted a tribute to Oscar Niemeyer – the Brazilian architect who designed the modernist skeleton of the Rashid Karami International Fairground. The tribute featured a lecture by architect and engineer Wassim Naghi along with Esper Melhem’s photos of the fairground.Over the course of six days, the Safadi and Azm centers will be TIFF’s main venues, hosting the screening of 39 movies from 20 different countries. Most of the programmed works range from short and long documentary and narrativefilms, with a couple of animated films in the mix. Nine Lebanese films will screen, both in and out of competition. “Beirut in Two Words,” by Berlin-based Anne Chahine, will be shown in the documentary competition. The film assembles nine prominent members from Beirut’s music and art scene to share their thoughts on living and working in an environment that is as creative as it is tumultuous. Festival organizers have decided to make some strong statements with unique additions to their special program for the 2015 edition of the festival. Five films will screen at the Beirut Arab University campus on May 6, under the theme “Women and Conflicts.” The film “10949 Women,” by French director Nassima Guessoum, centers on a casual discussion between the filmmaker and the former political head of the FLN, National Liberation Front, Nassima Hablal about her experiences during the Algerian revolution. The animated short “Vicenta,” from Ecuadorian director Carla Valencia Davilla, depicts the struggle of an impoverished single mother that migrates from Bolivia to Chili in search of a better life. She faces further adversity when her son is detained as a political prisoner by the military dictator Augusto Pinochet. To lure Tripoli residents to the festivities, open-air screenings of six films from the official lineup will be held in Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh on May 4 and 6. With its surreal backlit animations of swimmers and birds as they witness the break of dawn, the Swiss animated short “Aubade” by Mauro Carraro is likely to hypnotize neighborhood residents. It’s refreshing to see cinema used to transform a city plagued with turbulence into a center of culture. The Tripoli Film Festival will run from May 1 to May 6 at the Safadi and Azm
cultural centers, with a special closing ceremony on May 7. For details about the festival’s full official selection of films or any other additional information regarding the program, please call 71-400-101 or visit: http://www.tripoli-filmfestival.org/
