Reviving Aline Khalaf: Director Zac Ghosn’s Race Against Time

Zac Ghosn to Asharq Al-Awsat: I am racing against time with my directorial ideas

Lebanese director Zac Ghosn erased the artist Aline Khalaf’s years of absence from the scene in a matter of a few minutes, when he signed the clip of her song “What You Say,” opening the doors for her once again to meet the stardom she had previously achieved.

Aline has been out of the limelight since 2014 following her marriage to Carlo Elie Ayoub. Today, after about 10 years of isolation and separation from her husband, she returns to singing with Zac Ghosn’s camera.

Zak, who has various experiences in the field of directing in Lebanon and abroad, took on this task with pleasure. He loves difficult projects that require effort and motivate him to do his best. He said in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat: “My hobby is facing difficulties and overcoming them successfully. When I was called to do this work, I was happy because she entrusted me with a task that is not easy at all.”

He describes his collaboration with Allen as wonderful “because she is a dedicated artist who knows what she wants and how to seize the moment of victory.” When she saw me and before I told her the idea for the clip, she said to me, “I agree.” She didn’t even wait for me to explain the story of the clip to her. She believes in her intuition, and when she saw me, she realized that I was the right person for the right comeback. It was this cooperation between us that I am proud of on the occasion of her return to the scene.”

With the song “Ya Sababin Al-Shay”, with which Aline Khalaf previously garnered millions of views, Zak begins the clip “Ma Taqli”. “Through this song, I tried to remind Aline, the star who accomplished a lot in her career. She relied on the element of admiration for her from one of her old fans as a fictional character, and she imagined him obsessed with Aline, the artist, and her songs, and from here the story began.

Aline chose the words “Don’t Tell Me,” written by the late poet Elias Nasser. The melodies are by George Mardorossian and the musical arrangement is by Michel Fadel.

Zack says he gets his ideas outside the box, so what does that mean? “I mean that I escape the ordinary and the consumer and search for the special. In the clip (Ma Taqli), I evoked the longing that many people have for Aline’s return.

Zac Ghosn, as he told Asharq Al-Awsat, intended to convey Aline’s experience to her fans during her absence from them and the limelight. “I decided to introduce them to her lifestyle at that point. So I took snapshots from her diaries in my own way, and summarized them all in this video clip.”

Zach Allen actually filmed Khalaf while she was shopping and also filmed her playing tennis. He did not forget to highlight her motherhood, especially since she had her daughter Levi from her marriage to Carlo Ayoub. Aline appeared in full physical fitness, with her usual elegance and wit, which she is known for.

“Don’t Tell Me” is the title of the comeback song by artist Aline Khalaf (Zach Aden)

From a young age, Zac Ghosn discovered his passion for cinematic and photographic work as a whole. “I was still young when I went to accompany the most important directors in Lebanon. I also worked with Bassem Al-Turk, Jad Choueiri, and others.” As for how his ideas are born, he tells it as follows: “I am not exaggerating if I say that I have a keen eye. I consider the camera my third eye that never disappoints me. As soon as I see someone’s face, an idea arises to depict it in a certain way. Thoughts come to me as I breathe. The scenes that I have stored throughout my journey and engraved in my head have contributed to this quick intuition that I possess.”

Zach says he worked for about five years as a young man in a record store. “I attended thousands of these films and famous foreign series. I don’t know how the idea automatically floods into me when I intend to do a photography project. I subconsciously imagine one of the cinematic scenes that is ingrained in my mind and turn it into a (top camera).”

Ghosn says that his ideas are pioneering and unlike others (Zac Ghosn)

He does not like the canned ideas that most directors adopt. “Just because they saw a clip of a foreign song, they applied it to the work of an Arab artist. As for me, my imagination runs wild and takes me to the theaters of Las Vegas, France, and Marilyn Monroe movies. As I filmed the work, these ideas touched me and I made a live tape, not just a music clip.

As he says, he loves the American pictorial style, as it is an infusion of his daily addiction to watching movies due to the nature of his work. “I had to watch about 4 movies every day in order to convince the customer who entered the store which movie he liked. Therefore, I fell in love with Hollywood art and was influenced by it.”

Zach Allen conjured a sparkling star, beginning the clip with “Oh, teabags.”

Zach worked in various types of photography, including montage and promo series. This marked his career in cooperation with well-known names such as Bahraini artist Roqaya, Iraqi artist Baker Khaled, Ali Al Jasmi, Karim Al Khatib, and Jad Khalifa. “I also worked with the Egyptian star Mohamed Ramadan, so I took over filming his trip to Lebanon from his arrival at Beirut airport until his departure. I also worked on editing a Kuwaiti series entitled (The Noon and What They Know), and I filmed the promotional advertisement for it.”

Zak worked with Haifa Charbel on her expatriate program “Cedars Ambassadors,” which was shown on the Lebanese MTV channel. “I learned a lot from this experience and moved through the program in different countries. This provided me with a lot of information in the field.” He concludes: “I feel as if I am racing against time in my thoughts due to my passion for travel and the general and useful information available to me.”