Sara Abou Said, Francesca Noia van der Staay, Sarah Hajjar, and Maria Cristina Rigano in front of the Barberini cinema in Rome, where the first edition of the Festival del Cinema Libanese in Italia will be held. Photo provided by Sarah Hajjar.
"We were by the sea, Francesca Noia van der Staay and I, when I joked that we could organize a Lebanese film festival in Italy. My friend, a film producer, immediately loved the idea," explained Sara Abou Said, a nuclear engineer who recently left the banking sector and became involved with the Lebanese-Italian Cultural Institute. The idea for a new festival in Rome quickly gained traction, and preparations began last February under the name Festival del Cinema Libanese in Italia (FCLI).An Italian of Lebanese origin, FCLI President and Director Abou Said was born in Beirut and has lived in Rome since 1972. "I've spent my whole life there since I was 9. The Lebanese community is not very large, nor particularly united. Still, the Institute organizes many events and has sent substantial material aid to displaced people...
"We were by the sea, Francesca Noia van der Staay and I, when I joked that we could organize a Lebanese film festival in Italy. My friend, a film producer, immediately loved the idea," explained Sara Abou Said, a nuclear engineer who recently left the banking sector and became involved with the Lebanese-Italian Cultural Institute. The idea for a new festival in Rome quickly gained traction, and preparations began last February under the name Festival del Cinema Libanese in Italia (FCLI).An Italian of Lebanese origin, FCLI President and Director Abou Said was born in Beirut and has lived in Rome since 1972. "I've spent my whole life there since I was 9. The Lebanese community is not very large, nor particularly united. Still, the Institute organizes many events and has sent substantial material aid to displaced people...
