In the blink of an eye, art comes with its modest and rich prestige at the same time, to remove from the Lebanese the cloud of worries that wraps around his neck. Once again, the Lebanese young talents are distinguished and their name shines globally through achievements that confirm every time that there are no limits to imagination, and that creativity breaks the restrictions imposed on us by some leaders.
In an artistic event that cannot be overlooked, the Lebanese sisters Michelle and Noel Kesrouani won the “Golden Bear” award for best short film at the conclusion of the 73rd edition of the Berlin Film Festival for their short film “Larqa”.
“Yarqa” is the first film of the two Kesrouani sisters, and it lasts 30 minutes, after a series of lyrical and video works that they presented, which were characterized by messages directed at the general Lebanese social situation.
In the information, the two Kesrouani sisters were influenced by two articles by Akram Fouad Khater and Fawaz Traboulsi on the silk industry, “Love of Silk” by Fawaz Traboulsi (in French, “Beirut Express”, 1996), and “Manzil” to “Gods of One House: Gender, Class and Silk in The 19th Century in Mount Lebanon” by Akram Fouad Khater (in English, Cambridge University, 1996), which prompted them to combine the past and the present, and this story, which was filmed between Paris, Lyon and Lebanon, was born.
As for the movie “Yarqa”, it tells the story of two young women, Asma and Sarah, a Syrian and a Lebanese, who meet by chance while working as waitresses in a cafe in the French city of Lyon, and a deep friendship is born between them after a state of aversion, and they recount to each other and to the viewers stages that imprinted their memories. As the horrific Beirut port explosion has its share in the film, just as the Syrian war does.
It is remarkable in the film that it moves from the superficial topics in the dialogue to the deeper ones, to show that the traumas that the two girls experienced are still with them in the details of their lives, despite their attempts to forget them. These traumas are manifested in psychological pressures that constitute a burden for Sarah and Asma, both on the family level. Practical, preoccupied with how to secure rent and housing problems.
