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Beirut Cinema Days Festival Sheds Light on Immigration | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Beirut- The schedule of Beirut Cinema Days’ ninth edition has been announced at a press conference held at the Smallville Hotel in Beirut’s Badaro Street.

This festival kicked off on Wednesday with “Rabih” (Tramontane) directed by Lebanese filmmaker Vatche Boulghourjian. “Rabih” was first screened at the Cannes Festival 2016 and the Dubai International Film Festival.

However, the Beirut festival’s surprise will be the show of “Mawlana”; a controversial movie which was not screened in Lebanon by its producer Sabah Distribution Company after the Lebanese General Security’s decision to omit 13 minutes from the movie for including offensive religious scenes.

According to the festival’s director Zeina Sfeir, the main goal of the event is to enhance dialogue among all Arabs and foreigners through cinema. Therefore, the full version of the movie will be shown on March 24; but the show will not be open to the public.

The festival themed immigration in cinema will also feature movies like “Return to Haifa” by Kassem Hawal and the PLO’s production “They do not exist” by Mustafa Abu Ali.

The festival will also see participation from Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. The Tunisia productions are expected to have a remarkable presence, with many Tunisian movies aiming to encourage the new generation of directors and actors in the country.

However, Egyptian participation in the festival is humble; three movies only including “In the Last days of the City” by Tamer El Said and “Little Eagles” by Mohamed Rashad will be screened.

Lebanese talents have their special signature in the festival with many works including “Mayyel ya Ghzayyel” (Those who Remain) by Eliane Raheb and “Ya Omri” (Wrinkles) by Hady Zaccak.

Only one Moroccan movie is participating in the festival, along with one from Qatar, “The Workers Cup”, a co-production with Britain.

Finally, the Lebanese cinema will also mark presence in the category of short documentaries including “Time” by Wael Dib and “Submarine” by Mounia Akel.