Submitting his feature film debut, Ely Dagher (2015 Palme d’Or for the short film Waves ’98) returned to Cannes this year with a compelling, darkly dreamlike portrait of his native Beirut. Jana, a woman shrouded in mysterious melancholy, travels back home from her years spent in Paris, perhaps to re-establish contact with the past, and perhaps to try to understand what caused the transformation of the magical Lebanese metropolis into a city of ghosts.
In 2015 Ely Dagher was awarded the Cannes Palme d’Or for Best Short for his film Waves ’98, which KVIFF presented that year as part of its special focus “A Week of Lebanese Cinema”. This year he returned to the world’s leading film festival, specifically to the section Directors’ Fortnight, with his feature debut, a compelling, darkly dreamlike portrait of his native Beirut. Jana, a woman shrouded in mysterious melancholy (Manal Issa, who also appears in Memory Box, programmed at KVIFF this year), travels back home from her years spent in Paris, perhaps to re-establish contact with the past, and perhaps to try to understand what caused the transformation of the magical Lebanese metropolis into a city of ghosts lapped by the waves of a fragile, elusive sea.
Karel Och
115 min / Color, DCP
Director Ely Dagher
/ Screenplay Ely Dagher
/ Dir. of Photography Shadi Chaaban
/ Music Joh Dagher
/ Editor Léa Masson, Ely Dagher
/ Art Director Sabine Sabbagh
/ Producer Arnaud Dommerc
/ Production Andolfi
/ Coproduction Beachside, Wrong Men, Abbout Productions, BeaverAndBeaver and Proximus, Shelter Prod
/ Cast Manal Issa, Roger Azar, Yara Abou Haidar, Rabih El Zaher, Fadi Abi Samra
/ Sales The Party Film Sales
Ely Dagher (1985, Beirut). Filmography: Beirut (2007, animated short), Waves '98 (2015, animated short), The Sea Ahead (Albahr 'amamakum, 2021).
The Party Film Sales
16 rue Frochot, 75009, Paris
France
Phone: +33 140 229 215
E-mail: [email protected]
Ely Dagher
Film Director
Manal Issa
Actress
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