To all lovers of film, life and humanity,
Each year our team dives into the bottomless morass of films that are submitted to the festival, long and short with themes covering the gamut of emotions and ideas.
And each year Jessica and I dive deep into this abyss and emerge with a few films that cling to us like twisted sandwich wraps, unshakably strong and memorable.
It’s then that the fun begins as the LFF team draws battle lines and champions favourites.
Invectives fly, insults are hurled, grudges born and held, and in this heavy fog of vitriolic emotion we somehow manage to distill a collection of films that we hope convey what it means to be Lebanese, in our appearance, our manner, our thoughts and in how we interact with the world around us.
Do we dream in Arabic, English, Spanish, French, or the myriad of countries and languages our forebearers found themselves flung into, an international diaspora seeking their futures and building their lives?
For no doubt wherever the Lebanese landed they succeed, in building families, businesses and careers. They joined boards, jumped into politics, got emotionally involved in sports and, on the whole, become model citizens of the countries that have welcomed them.
They are proud of where they’ve come from but also of their new homes, Australia is home, a wonderful home that affords us opportunities Lebanon never could.
And in this climate of the low hanging orange cloud that wishes to make us a monoculture, that demands we choose between where we came from, or where we now live, we push on.
How do you choose between a mother or a father, even if one has always treated you more kindly than the other ?
And in this whirlpool of creativity, industry and emotion we take a beat, reflect and carefully curate a body of films that speak to us, and about us.
These films were not picked in a vacuum, we are not oblivious to the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Lebanon, and Palestine, and Israel, and the Middle East.
With the counsel, support and backing of the film makers, we’re hoping these films somehow help us all to pause, to take a beat, to reflect and become better versions of ourselves.
Humanity has evolved so much, let us not be the first generation to devolve.
Yours in film,
Edward Hanna and the Lebanese Film Festival Team
