Organised by the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon, in partnership with Metropolis Cinema Association and in cooperation with the European Union Member States, the European Film Festival will be held from the 4th to the 16th of November in Beirut.
The European Film Festival will open on Friday 4 November with the French film Annette by Leos Carax, starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver. Annette kicked off the Festival de Cannes in 2021, where it won the Best Director and the Best Soundtrack Award. It then went on to win multiple awards, among which five French César Awards in 2022 including Best Director, Best Original Score and Best Editing.
The opening night of the European Film Festival will be hosted by ESA Business School and is by invitation only.
This 27th edition of the European Film Festival will take place in various venues across Beirut, including Cinema Montaigne, the Lebanese University - Faculty of Fine Arts, and Galaxy Grand Cinemas. In an effort to promote and showcase European culture to the widest possible audience, the Festival is scheduled to rerun in Jounieh (7-9 November), Saida (10-12 November), Tripoli (10-12 November), Kobayat (11-12 November), Byblos (11-12 November), Hermel (11 November), Zahle (14 November), Deir El Qamar (18 November) and Ayta Al Fokhar (18-20 November).
The program includes a wide variety of screenings and events:
- 24 recent feature films from Europe, allowing the audience to discover award-winning films, which were screened at major international film festivals, as well as the first or second productions of promising emerging directions;
- 2 recent feature films showing exclusively in regions;
- 1 Ciné-concert with live music performed in 3 cities;
- 1 classic feature film The Conformist (directed by Bernardo Bertolucci) in tribute to French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant;
- 1 classic feature film L’Eclisse (directed by Michelangelo Antonioni) in tribute to Italian actress Monica Vitti;
- 1 classic feature film Beauty and the Giants / Hasnaa’ wa Amalika (directed by Samir El Ghoussayni) in tribute to Lebanese actor and producer Chawki Matta;
- 1 recent feature film À vendredi, Robinson (directed by Mitra Farahani) in tribute to Jean-Luc Godard to close the Festival;
- 6 short films from the European Film Academy’s Short Film Tour, including the winner of the European Short Film Award 2021;
- 12 short films produced by young emerging Lebanese filmmakers, and competing to win awards offered by Member States;
- 10 animated short films from Lebanon and Denmark in the special program “YAP x ANIMOK – Beirut Meets Viborg”;
- 1 Film Expression Workshop: “Taabir”.
Among the feature films, the European Film Festival proposes four films for a young audience. The Festival will invite children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds to these screenings.
Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed, released in 1926 is considered to be the oldest surviving full-length animated film in the history of cinema. The Ciné-concert will be one of this year’s special events organized by the Festival, in collaboration with Metropolis Cinema and Irtijal. It will be presented in Beirut, and the cities of Saida and Tripoli. The original music is composed and will be performed live by Lebanese musicians and electronic artists, including Anthony Sahyoun, Jad Atoui, Pascal Semerdjian and Fadi Tabbal.
Keeping up with its mission to support young Lebanese talents, the Festival will award three prizes for the films participating in the Short Film Competition. The Festival will offer the winners the opportunity to attend a leading international film festival in Europe in 2023, thanks to the Goethe Institut Libanon, l’Institut français du Liban and the Embassy of Poland in Lebanon.
Six participants aged 16 to 18 years old will also take part in the “Taabir” Film Expression Workshop between 4 and 6 November, to produce short video diaries. Filmed in the immediate surroundings of the workshop and at home, the exercises will be led by filmmaker Corine Shawi and university professor Yara Nashawaty, who will encourage the participants to identify and develop their own film language.
This edition’s poster was designed by Lebanese illustrator and comic artist Marilyn Mokbel, following a competition launched online. The artist pays a modest hommage to iconic French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, through the use of the eye of his muse, Danish actress Anna Karina from the classic film Alphaville. The typography subtly references the credits of another classic film by Godard, Pierrot le Fou.
The Festival is thrilled to present on its Closing night À vendredi, Robinson; a film by Mitra Farahani, bringing together two legends of the same generation, French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard and the Iranian filmmaker and literary figure Ebrahim Golestan. The film premiered at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival 2022 where it won the Special Jury Award of the Encounters Section, and is co-produced by renowned Lebanese producer Georges Schoucair.
The European Film Festival is organized with the contribution of LBCI.
All festival screenings are free and open to the public, on a first come first served basis. To book tickets go to metropoliscinema.net.
