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In a city without a cinema, a festival, small in size and big in meaning, comes to bring Tripoli back to the screen and bring the screen back to him, even for a week.

As every year, the summer season in the capital of northern Lebanon ends with a gathering in the alleys of the Mina district by the sea. They are tourists of a different kind; They are Lebanese and Arab filmmakers and film experts who came to the place to participate in the “Tripoli Film Festival,” which reached its 11th session this year.

The festival’s activities extend from September 19 to 25 (Festival Guide)

Egypt hosted by “Al Mina”

What most attracts Egyptian producer Mohamed Taymour about this cultural event is “the intimacy that allows for close and in-depth knowledge between filmmakers from all over the Arab world.” His colleague and partner, director Mahmoud Assi, agrees with him, and says, to Asharq Al-Awsat, “time is not wasted here, because narrow spaces are the birthplace of ideas and inspiration,” and that “the secret of the Tripoli Film Festival is not in what is presented, but in the type of it.”

The two young Egyptians, each of them bringing his cinematic project to Tripoli, hoping to get support, did not hesitate to travel to Lebanon, despite the delicate security conditions. They found themselves receiving encouragement and laughter from a circle of professional colleagues.

Director Mahmoud Assi and producer Mohamed Taymour went to the festival from Egypt to present their projects (Festival Guide)

Explanation continued

Season after season, the festival is dedicated to a forum for emerging Arab cinematic talents and old pioneers in the field, and this is confirmed by the founder and director of the Tripoli Film Festival, Elias Khallat. Khalat told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Despite the innumerable crises, the moral and material costs, and especially the difficulty in obtaining funding, we maintain our determination to continue.”

The “Filmmakers’ Days” forum is probably the most prominent thing that has shaped the youth identity of the festival, and made it a destination for new generations of directors and producers. Khallat explains that “this particular forum covers a larger area, year after year,” and the most important thing that came out of it is “the platform for support to the Arabic short film. “

Elias Khalat, founder and director of the Tripoli Film Festival (festival management)

A unique platform in the Arab world

The uniqueness of this platform is that it is the only one in the Arab world dedicated to supporting short films. Fatima Rasha Shehadeh, the coordinator of the forum, explains how the idea for the platform was born 3 years ago: “Elias and I have always noticed, during our visits to Arab film festivals, that funding limited to feature films. We were aware in advance how much suffering short film directors have in obtaining financial support, so we decided to launch the platform in the 2022 session of the festival.”

The platform achieved its first success with the first films it supported; It is “Soon”, from Jordan to the “Berlin Film Festival”. Today, the chances of short films getting money have doubled with the number of supporters who believe in the platform, and they vary between non-governmental organizations and production companies from Europe and the Arab world.

It is true that the amounts donated are not large, and their total amount does not exceed 6 thousand dollars, but the enthusiasm of the young leaders to present their projects within them shows how artistic and moral importance to them.

Fatima Rasha Shehadeh Festival Forum Coordinator (Holiday Management)

In addition to financial support

The Lebanese director, Sherine Karam, will stand on the podium in front of the audience and the jury who will decide whether her short film deserves support. She defends her opinion as someone who defends the causes dearest to his heart. This immersion in the project and the commitment to deliver it to the audience plays an important role in selecting films worthy of the platform’s credentials. Shehadeh emphasizes this point and says: “This year, 39 projects came to us from different parts of the Arab world. We selected the appropriate films based on the idea presented, and we also looked at the financial plan, focusing on projects that were separated by some money from implementation, so we pushed them forward.”

Among these directors, who only need a little to complete their project, is the Lebanese Elie Njeim, who has reached the final stages of his film in terms of sound engineering and coloring. In his 20 minute film, Najim chose a true story about a man who sells water bottles on the road and collects his income to buy his coffin. The young director and actor says that his participation in the Tripoli Festival, as a student support, goes beyond the financial aspect; For him, the place is a “meeting place to exchange ideas and concerns in this difficult time, and a source of inspiration and energy recovery for many of us.”

Lebanese director and actor Elie Njeim presents his short film project to the jury (festival director)

The Egyptian producer Mohamed Taymour, present with the film “Sofra” by director Sherif El-Bendary, shares his opinion with Njeim. Taymour says that “the platform, despite what is offered, is a unique interface for young people working in the film sector. ” He said: “Here we can build a good reputation for the film and increase the possibilities for its distribution in the Arab world. “

His co-director, Mohamed Assi, goes further to say: “Our presence here at this critical security moment, and in the midst of the dangers surrounding Lebanon, is the most important thing about the matter, because it is the highest goal of cinema to introduce. people closer together.”

Young filmmakers who submitted their projects to the support platform (festival management)

Win together

It’s time to announce the winners. The surprise is visible on the faces of the emerging directors and producers, as any small support will take their projects forward. The grand prize goes to Sherine Karam and her film “Two Birds with One Stone,” and the remaining amounts are distributed among Najim and Taymour. But happiness is not limited to the winners, because everyone raises the certificate of participation in the festival with a smile.

If the impact is not financial, it is certainly professional and artistic. In addition to the opportunity to submit to the support platform, the festival offers young filmmakers the opportunity to participate in training workshops and conferences related to cinematic issues in all sides of her.

Veteran artists and emerging talents live together at the festival (festival management)

In this context, Shehadeh says that the management of the festival is trying to “build bridges between young people and experienced experts in the field.” This can be seen closely, as we travel through the halls holding activities, because here is the seventy-year-old actor and the twenty-year-old director, and the professional producer and screenwriter who coming up, next to each other, until everyone is. exchanging cinematic experiences with humility and generosity.