In modern day Lebanon, in a country divided between those who have too little and those who have too much, three women try to defy their social labeling and incapability. “Habbet Loulou” is a story about illegitimate children, prostitution, and abortion. A heartfelt tale that streams from the veins running under the very streets of Lebanon.
Habbet Loulou is a new movie by Layal Rajha and will be out in cinemas on September 26th. You can check this Facebook page for more information about it.
The idea is cool and the video is well executed, but it would have been really nice if it was mentioned in the credits that the whole thing was inspired copied from this video.
Update:
A reference to the original video is now mentioned in the caption here.
A total of 47 short films from 21 different countries will be presented to the public during this three day event, with free entrance for everyone. The festival program is available here if you’re interested.
Looks like Hamra is soon getting a new cinema, “Prime on Bliss”, facing AUB in Bliss street. The website and Facebook page have no further details such as the numbers of screens that will be available, except that they’re opening this month.
According to Vox Cinemas’ page on Facebook, they’ll be opening today at Beirut City Centre.
For the list of movie they’ll be showing, you can check their website.
Betroit is a new Lebanese movie by Adel Serhan that was filmed in Beirut and Detroit. It will start showing in Lebanese cinemas on March 3rd 2013.
Betroit, written and directed by Adel Serhan, is a portrayal of three couples as their lives become intertwined with one another. An act of violence disturbs the lives of the group and they come to realize how precious love and family can be. Leila (Darine Hamze) tries to escape from her abusive husband (Hassan Farhat) in hopes of fleeing to Detroit, where her sister Rola (Christine Solomon) lives. Lisa is desperately seeking a divorce from her husband Sam (Derek Kelly) in order to pursue a Hollywood career. She claims her husband physically abuses her in order to get Sam deported from the States. Rola, who is married to a successful lawyer Joe (Tamer Werfalli), both strives to help their friend Sam (Derek Kelly) and her sister’s marriage while struggling to have a baby of their own. Betroit addresses issues of domestic violence, culture, love and relationships between both the American and Middle Eastern culturet.
After the order of nurses in Lebanon filed a lawsuit against My Last Valentine in Beirut for showing an actress wearing a provocative nurse outfit, it seems that the film director Salim El-Turk decided to stop showing it in Lebanese cinemas instead of waiting for the General Security to take a decision about the lawsuit, as per Lebanon Files a while ago.
Still, I don’t know why I’m feeling like the movie will keep showing, and that the producers are just spreading these news to get as much people as possible to go watch the movie now.
Update:
The movie is now showing again in theaters after it stopped for a while.
The 19th European Film Festival will be held from 29 November to 9 December at Cinema Metropolis Empire Sofil, and below is the festival’s program.
Tickets will be on sale for 4,000 L.L. For more information about the festival and the program you can check Metropolis Cinema’s website.
“My last valentine in Beirut” is a Lebanese movie by Salim El-Turk and was supposed to be released back in May but for some reason it didn’t make it.
A few days ago I started seeing some posters announcing it will premiere in theaters on November 15th.
“Fetih 1453” is a new Turkish movie that started showing yesterday in Lebanon about the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans led by Sultan Mohammad II. And I’ve heard several times on the news that some people are finding it insulting because of how the Romans were shown in the movie.
With a budget exceeding 18 million dollars, “Fetih 1453” is a Turkish action film and one of the most important movies showing the conquest of Constantinople from the Turkish point of view.
However, the Byzantine Church in Lebanon seems not to agree with the Turkish analysis, and considers that the film insults Christian sanctities and symbols.In the past few days, a number of activists on Facebook have been protesting against the reformulation of the history of Constantinople in the film “Fetih 1453”, which, according to them, contains false historical facts.
These activists will be holding a sit-in on Saturday September 29 at 4 pm at Sassine Square in protest of what they consider “an offense to the Christian civilization”. They will also protest outside the movie theaters that will be showing the film expected to be released on September 27. Source
The movie is showing at City Mall and Empire theaters by the way, and I just found it available online here on Vimeo.
