Filmmaker Danielle Arbid. (Credit: Alex Delamadeleine)
You are the patron of the Lebanese Film Festival. What is the significance of this festival today, as Lebanon finds itself once again plunged into war?Now, more than ever, we need images of Lebanon. It's as if we're witnessing the end of something. These images are precious, even if they're often made with bits of string. Every single image that comes from Lebanon today is cherished. This festival serves as a window into the country.In 2002, you made "Aux frontières" (At the Borders in English), a documentary on the borders between Palestine/Israel and the rest of the Arab world. It’s like a window as well, but one that reveals a country that constantly eludes us.What interested me was being in my place and filming the off-screen — our off-screen as Lebanese, Palestinian refugees, Syrians, Jordanians and Egyptians. That country on the...
You are the patron of the Lebanese Film Festival. What is the significance of this festival today, as Lebanon finds itself once again plunged into war?Now, more than ever, we need images of Lebanon. It's as if we're witnessing the end of something. These images are precious, even if they're often made with bits of string. Every single image that comes from Lebanon today is cherished. This festival serves as a window into the country.In 2002, you made "Aux frontières" (At the Borders in English), a documentary on the borders between Palestine/Israel and the rest of the Arab world. It’s like a window as well, but one that reveals a country that constantly eludes us.What interested me was being in my place and filming the off-screen — our off-screen as Lebanese, Palestinian refugees, Syrians, Jordanians and Egyptians. That country on...
