Lebanon Cultural Events

Ordo is a French Marine whose early life was full of broken relationships, including a brief marriage with an underage nymphet named Estelle that was busted up when her mom hauled her back home. Sixteen years later, his shipmates spot his old wedding photo in a celeb magazine article on hot star-of-the-moment Louise Sandoli. Seems the sexy blonde used to be Estelle, but Ordo has difficulty believing the inexperienced, immature girl he once married could be the confident superstar his mates now tease him about.







Genres: Art/Foreign and Adaptation
Running Time: 1 hr. 47 min.
Production Co.: Cinemaginaire, Gemini Films, Madragoa Filmes, Maia Films
Funding: Canal Plus, Centre National de la Cinematographie, Institut de Cinema Catala
Filming Locations: Portugal
Produced in: Canada

Playing at Club Social in Achrafieh at 7:00pm on Sunday, November 11th. Free Entry

Link

Every summer, crowds of people cross the sea between France and Algeria, mainly between Marseilles and Algiers, a motley crew of men and women laden with suitcases and stories.

At sea, you are no longer in France and not yet in Algeria. And vice versa. In this state of limbo, between two shores and two countries, the talk comes thick and fast, often out of necessity. In this strange enclosed world on board a ship, La Traversée shows these men and women who relate their stories.

An investigative documentary that takes us behind the scenes to reveal the genesis of, and the stakes involved in the trial of Saddam Hussein. During fifteen months, Jean-Pierre Krief, the director, led the inquiry in Iraq, Jordan, the United States, and elsewhere, interviewing the Iraqi Special Tribunal judges, Hussein’s defense lawyers, victims and their lawyers, high-ranking U.S. administration officials, investigators, and experts involved in the trial.
This unique investigation uses documents, testimony, and images that have never been seen before in an attempt to clarify the shady areas that surround the most talked about trial of contemporary times.

How did the Iraqi Special Tribunal come to be set up? What role did the American administration play in its setting up and operating?

Playing Friday, Oct 5, 8:30pm at Metropolis Art Cinema, Masrah el Madina (Hamra)

For more information: www.metropoliscinema.net or call 03-793065

Fee: 3000LL 

BARAKAT ! (Enough!)

Algeria/ France - 2006
Direction: Djamila Sahraoui
Screenplay: Djamila Sahraoui, Cucile Vargafting
Camera: Katell Dijan
Editing: Catherine Gouze
Sound: Olivier Schwob
Music: Alla
Cast: Rachida Brani, Fettouma Bouamari, Zahir Bouzrar, Malika Belbey
Format: 35 mm
Time: 90 min.
Original Version: Arabic


Synopsis
In an Algeria which is still the victim of fundamentalist fanaticism, two women who very much remind us of Thelma and Louise set off in search of the younger woman’s husband, kidnapped because of his courageous articles. Their journey, full of danger and discovery, will also allow the two friends to get to know each other better and accept their respective generational differences.

Playing on Thu, Oct 4, 8:30pm - 9:30pm
At: Metropolis Art Cinema, Masrah el Madina (Hamra)
For more information: www.metropoliscinema.net or call 03-793065
Fee: 3000LL

Plot

Note: There are multiple versions of Metropolis. The original German version remained unseen for many decades. Of this version, a quarter of the footage is believed to be permanently lost. The U.S. version, shortened and re-written by Channing Pollock, is the most commonly known and discussed.

The film is set in the year 2027, in the extraordinary Gothic skyscrapers of a corporate city-state, the Metropolis of the title. Society has been divided into two rigid groups: one of planners or thinkers, who live high above the earth in luxury, and another of workers who live underground toiling to sustain the lives of the privileged. The city is run by Johann 'Joh' Fredersen (Alfred Abel).

The beautiful and evangelical figure Maria (Brigitte Helm) takes up the cause of the workers. She advises the desperate workers not to start a revolution, and instead wait for the arrival of "The Mediator", who, she says, will unite the two halves of society. The son of Fredersen, Freder (Gustav Fröhlich), becomes infatuated with Maria, and follows her down into the working underworld. In the underworld, he experiences firsthand the toiling lifestyle of the workers, and observes the casual attitude of their employers (he is disgusted after seeing an explosion at the "M-Machine", when the employers bring in new workers to keep the machine running before taking care of the men wounded or killed in the accident). Shocked at the workers' living conditions, he joins her cause. Meanwhile his father Fredersen learns of the existence of the robotic gynoid built by the scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) and orders Rotwang to give the robot Maria's appearance. (Rotwang had wanted to give the robot the appearance of Fredersen's dead wife, Hel; both men had been in love with her, but in the end she had married Fredersen). By doing so he wants to spread disorder among the workers that would give him the pretext to carry out a retaliatory strike against them.

The real Maria is imprisoned in Rotwang's house in Metropolis, while the robot Maria becomes an exotic dancer in the city's Yoshiwara nightclub, fomenting discord among the rich young men of Metropolis. The workers are encouraged by the robot Maria into a full-scale rebellion, and destroy the "Heart Machine", the power station of the city. However, the destruction of the machine leads to the city's reservoirs overfilling, which floods the workers' underground city and seemingly drowns their children, who were left behind in the riot. (The children are in fact saved in a heroic rescue by Freder and Maria, without the workers' knowledge.) When the workers realize this, they attack out into the gridlocked and confused upper city, foreshadowing the "destruction of the enemy in the citadel" ending still seen in films. The crowd breaks into the city's entertainment district and captures the robot Maria, whom they believe is responsible for drowning their children. They burn the robot at the stake, and when Freder sees this, he believes that it is the real Maria and despairs. However, Freder and the workers then realise that "Maria" is in fact a robot, and see the real Maria being chased by Rotwang along the battlements of the city's cathedral. Freder chases after Rotwang, resulting in a climactic scene in which Joh Fredersen watches in terror as his son struggles with Rotwang on the cathedral's roof. Rotwang falls to his death, and Maria and Freder return to the street, where Freder unites Joh and Grot, the workers' leader, fulfilling his role as the "Mediator".

Source: Wikipedia

Playing tomorrow September 28, 2007 at Le Tournesol Theatre (Tayouneh roundabout) - 8:30pm
Six musicians from Lebanon, Germany and France will accompany the film live with a musical composition specially created for this unique screening.

For more info: (01) 381290

Don't miss it.

In my own personal opinion Takeshi Kitano does not compare to Shintaro Katsu. But the movie is actually a good movie. I will not spoil it for you.

Playing at Tonga in Hamra on Tuesday Sept 25th.

Click here for more details.

INSTITUTO CERVANTES and IESAV present the Spanish Movie Festival at Beryte Theater from September 25th till September 29.

Tuesday 25th: La calle sin sol
Wednesday 26th: Mi adorado Juan
Thursday 27th: El capitán Veneno
Friday 28th: Cielo negro
Saturday 29th: Sierra maldita

Check the calendar for more details.