Tag Archives | movie

I offered you pleasure – Another banned movie in Lebanon

By Rami on February 17, 2013 in Lebanon

“I offered you pleasure” is a short Lebanese movie by Farah Shaer that follows a shiite woman named Iman, who uses her religious right of performing pleasure marriage (zawaj el mot3a) to gather blessings for her late husband, and eventually creating a lot of controversy in her conservative surroundings.

As per this post by “STOP Cultural Terrorism in Lebanon” on Facebook, the movie seems to have been banned in Lebanon due to the fact that it tackles a sensitive subject after trying to submit it to two local film festivals and getting rejected.

“To all the people living in Beirut who wanted to watch the short film “I Offered You Pleasure” (وهبتك المتعة) of which I was the Director, I tell you this:

Unfortunately, the Lebanese Film Festival circuit seems is as corrupt as our governments, as we’ve presented the film to two local festivals & they both rejected the film.

On the other hand, the World’s Biggest Short Film Festival (Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival) chose it from more than 6150 entries from around the world (& as the only short film to represent Lebanon) …. It toured also to the biggest festival in Asia (Busan International Film Festival) & is now going on a tour between North Africa, Europe, & Latin America … but in Beirut…. well… what can we say… it’s a real shame … seems we will never be able to show it here…”

http://www.clermont-filmfest.com/index.php?&m=134&c=3&id_film=200027897&o=106

Trailer >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=limIyXVZ_Ys

So basically, you can make a movie about anything in Lebanon except politics and religion!

New Lebanese movie – Ossit Sawani / Blind Intersections

By Rami on January 27, 2013 in Lebanon

Ossit Sawani or Blind Intersections is a new Lebanese movie directed by Lara Saba about three people who come from different backgrounds and have never met, yet their lives will be seriously affected after one incident occurs.

Three protagonists, one city… Coming from different backgrounds, they pass each other but they never meet, though, the effect of one incident will drastically alter the lives of the three of them!

Nour loses her parents in a car accident. All her life collapses…
India has everything a woman can dream of except for a baby…
Marwan is 12 year old, he lives with a violent and alcoholic mother.

Three characters, caught at a moment when their lives fell over, in just a matter of seconds… knocked down by a chain of others’ actions/reactions…

The movie is set to be released in less than a month on February 21st, and I really hope it delivers what the trailer promises. For more information, you can visit the movie’s official Facebook page here.

Agent 505 – Todesfalle Beirut

By Rami on January 27, 2013 in Lebanon

I just stumbled upon this old German movie called “Agent 505 – Todesfalle Beirut” (also known as “Agent 505 – The Trap Door Falls in Beirut”) that was shot in Beirut back in 1966.

The part below has some scenes from Raouche, Ain El Mraisseh, and the airport of Beirut. I wish I can find some other parts or even the full movie somewhere online!

If you’re curious about the storyline, here’s what I found by one user on IMDB.

A dastardly villain known as The Sheikh threatens to wipe out the city of Beirut (and all 650,000 of its citizens) in this reasonably entertaining West German thriller from director Manfred Kohler, perhaps best known today for co-writing Harry Kumel’s erotic vampire epic Daughters of Darkness. Frederick Stafford plays suave secret agent Richard Blake, on the trail of The Sheikh with the assistance of gorgeous reporter Denise DuPree (Genevieve Cluny). A philanthropist named Omar Abdullah (Willy Birgel), whose cause is rehabilitating criminals, attracts the attention of Blake, and we’re off to the races. Babes, bullets, and gadgets–they’re all here and shot on location in mod, mod Beirut, at the time an ‘international city’ and a popular spot for European co-productions.

Music lovers should note that Ennio Morricone’s score echoes his spaghetti western work but fits nicely into the proceedings, whilst anticipating Theodorakis’ percussive Z score by a full year. The English language print misspells his name ‘Morricono’, though!

My Last Valentine in Beirut to stop showing in Cinemas

By Rami on November 28, 2012 in Lebanon

After the order of nurses in Lebanon filed a lawsuit against My Last Valentine in Beirut for showing an actress wearing a provocative nurse outfit, it seems that the film director Salim El-Turk decided to stop showing it in Lebanese cinemas instead of waiting for the General Security to take a decision about the lawsuit, as per Lebanon Files a while ago.

Still, I don’t know why I’m feeling like the movie will keep showing, and that the producers are just spreading these news to get as much people as possible to go watch the movie now.

Update:

The movie is now showing again in theaters after it stopped for a while.

My last valentine in Beirut

By Rami on October 7, 2012 in Lebanon

“My last valentine in Beirut” is a Lebanese movie by Salim El-Turk and was supposed to be released back in May but for some reason it didn’t make it.

A few days ago I started seeing some posters announcing it will premiere in theaters on November 15th.

Needless to say, it looks cheap.

Will “Fetih 1453” be banned in Lebanon?

By Rami on September 28, 2012 in Lebanon

Seems like it’s now the Christians turn to get upset over a movie!

“Fetih 1453” is a new Turkish movie that started showing yesterday in Lebanon about the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans led by Sultan Mohammad II. And I’ve heard several times on the news that some people are finding it insulting because of how the Romans were shown in the movie.

With a budget exceeding 18 million dollars, “Fetih 1453” is a Turkish action film and one of the most important movies showing the conquest of Constantinople from the Turkish point of view.
However, the Byzantine Church in Lebanon seems not to agree with the Turkish analysis, and considers that the film insults Christian sanctities and symbols.

In the past few days, a number of activists on Facebook have been protesting against the reformulation of the history of Constantinople in the film “Fetih 1453”, which, according to them, contains false historical facts.

These activists will be holding a sit-in on Saturday September 29 at 4 pm at Sassine Square in protest of what they consider “an offense to the Christian civilization”. They will also protest outside the movie theaters that will be showing the film expected to be released on September 27. Source

The movie is showing at City Mall and Empire theaters by the way, and I just found it available online here on Vimeo.

Tannoura Maxi coming back to theaters

By Rami on May 24, 2012 in Lebanon

It looks like Tannoura Maxi that got banned a fews days ago is coming back to theaters apparently after Joe Bou Eid (The movie director) made a compromise with the General Security by deleting some scenes from it.

via Lebanon Files

Tannoura Maxi banned from Lebanese cinemas

By Rami on May 21, 2012 in Lebanon

According to this article, Tannoura Maxi has joined the list of banned movies from Lebanese cinemas after the Catholic Information Center requested the General Security to pull the movie from theaters.

I heard so much about the movie being lame and disrespecting to Christianity, but then again didn’t Nadine Labaki show goats inside a mosque in her latest movie “W Halla’ Lawein“? Why can’t the General Security in Lebanon set a standard once and for all and apply it to all movies? And how effective is the ban anyway when you know beforehand that the movie is going to hit DVD stores whether you like it or not?

Anyway, I just feel sorry for Joe Bou Eid because it was pretty obvious that he was spending lot of money on promoting his movie.

Tannoura Maxi – Heels of War

By Rami on May 4, 2012 in Lebanon

Tannoura Maxi is a new Lebanese movie that debuted in theaters yesterday, and tells the story of a priest about to be ordained but falls in love of a high-heeled girl.

Regardless how good this movie might be, it is yet another Lebanese movie with a story taking place during the war, and I guess people are fed up with this repetitive pattern in Lebanese movies. I mean we’ve enjoyed the first few ones like West Beirut, but the topic has been used and abused! Wouldn’t you prefer to watch Lebanese movies of other genre?

33 Days – A Lebanese movie

By Rami on April 22, 2012 in Lebanon

33 Days is a Lebanese movie taking place in the summer of 2006 when Israel launched its war on Lebanon after Hezbollah succeeded in capturing two Israeli soldiers on the borders.

This is the second movie about the 2006 war after “Under the bombs“, and portrays what people who were resisting the Israeli invasion were going through in the town of Aita El Shaab.

However, since Iranians have contributed in its production, the movie has been banned from showing in Lebanon’s most popular theaters like Empire, City Mall, and Grand Cinemas ABC and is currently being shown at Planete Abraj, Concord, Las Salinas, and Saida Mall. What a shame!

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