Zeinab
Abducted during the Lebanese Civil War and now in his 50s, Ramez is finally a free man. But he returns to society deeply traumatized by the past.
Zozo's Mom
A Lebanese boy gets separated from his family during the civil war and ends up in Sweden.
Chimo's Mother
Based on a controversial French novel, Lila Says tells the story of a quiet young poet named Chimo who develops a crush on the pretty, blond Lila, a girl who recently moved into his Arab ghetto with her aunt. When the leader of a rival gang also falls for Lila, the ensuing love triangle initiates a journey of sexual discovery -- and sets off a chain of devastating events.
Narrator
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) student brigade included leftist students from Lebanon who mobilized around the struggle for the liberation of Palestine in the early 1970s. With the departure of the PLO’s armed forces from Lebanon after the Israeli siege of Beirut in 1982, the brigade was disbanded. Mohamed Soueid was part of the group, and as the Lebanese civil war ended, he decided to film them and revisit their shared sites of memory, drawing a raspy-voiced portrait of defeated militants infused with poetry and generously doused in alcohol.
Lebanese director Randa Chahal Sabbag spins this bleak war drama about the brutal absurdity of the urban warfare of Beirut during the 1980s. Opening with the shocking image of kittens being blown apart, the film loosely follows the travails of Bernadette (Nada Ghosn), a naïve country girl sent to the city as a maid for a mansion long since abandoned by the owners. There she meets Therese (Renee Dick), a veteran house cleaner who takes her under her wing. One day, while accompanying her friend to the cemetery, she meets a rakish Arab militiaman, and the two fall in love.
Riad Noueri - Tarek' father
In April, 1975, civil war breaks out; Beirut is partitioned along a Moslem-Christian line. Tarek is in high school, making Super 8 movies with his friend, Omar. At first the war is a lark: school has closed, the violence is fascinating, getting from West to East is a game. His mother wants to leave; his father refuses. Tarek spends time with May, a Christian, orphaned and living in his building. By accident, Tarek goes to an infamous brothel in the war-torn Olive Quarter, meeting its legendary madam, Oum Walid. He then takes Omar and May there using her underwear as a white flag for safe passage. Family tensions rise. As he comes of age, the war moves inexorably from adventure to tragedy.
Hala Noueri - Tarek's mother
In April, 1975, civil war breaks out; Beirut is partitioned along a Moslem-Christian line. Tarek is in high school, making Super 8 movies with his friend, Omar. At first the war is a lark: school has closed, the violence is fascinating, getting from West to East is a game. His mother wants to leave; his father refuses. Tarek spends time with May, a Christian, orphaned and living in his building. By accident, Tarek goes to an infamous brothel in the war-torn Olive Quarter, meeting its legendary madam, Oum Walid. He then takes Omar and May there using her underwear as a white flag for safe passage. Family tensions rise. As he comes of age, the war moves inexorably from adventure to tragedy.
The story of the film within the Abu Asaad family revolves around the inheritance of three brothers in the city of Hama in central Syria, but severe disagreements arise between them over how to divide this inheritance.
The story of the film within the Abu Asaad family revolves around the inheritance of three brothers in the city of Hama in central Syria, but severe disagreements arise between them over how to divide this inheritance.
