Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano
While shooting Costa Brava, Lebanon (SIFF 2022), the film crew’s world stopped when Lebanon’s Port of Beirut suddenly exploded, killing over 200 people and injuring thousands more. What does it mean to strive for human dignity and make art amid a country’s continuing turmoil?
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Monday, May 13, 2024
- Limited Availability
- On Standby
- Matinee
Monday, May 20 - Monday, May 27, 2024
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- On Standby
- Matinee
In 2022, SIFF showed a Lebanese film called Costa Brava, Lebanon. Two years on, we present a film about the “making of” that film, which also happens to be a harrowing documentary about the devastating port explosion which hit Beirut in 2020, and a fascinating chronicle of filmmaking under the most challenging of circumstances. The port explosion killed more than 200 people, injured 6,500, many of them critically, and left 300,000 homeless overnight. The cause was a stockpile of ammonium nitrate, which had been stored haphazardly in Beirut’s port for years. The origin and destination of the chemicals remain unknown, but their mishandling is widely attributed to the corruption and criminal practices of the ruling political establishment. Deep in pre-production for Costa Brava at the time of the blast, the cast and crew must decide whether to go forward with the shoot, despite severe damage to the production company’s office and injuries to its staff. Once the decision is made, they must figure out how to contend with a collapsing currency and rolling blackouts—not to mention COVID. A tribute to the perseverance and fortitude of the filmmakers, the story of making Costa Brava, Lebanon is in some ways, the story of a country where crisis has become the norm.
- Director: Cyril Aris
- Principal Cast: Mounia Akl, Myriam Sassine, Joe Saade, Georges Schoucair, Saleh Bakri
- Country: Lebanon, Germany
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 84 min.
- Producer: Myriam Sassine, Katharina Weser
- Screenplay: Cyril Aris
- Cinematographers: Joe Saade, Cyril Aris
- Editors: Nadia Ben Rachid, Cyril Aris
- Music: Anthony Sahyoun
- Awards: Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2023 (Special Jury Mention), Mostra de Valencia 2023 (À Punt Audience Award), Festival dei Popoli 2023 (Audience Award)
- Filmography: The Swing (2018)
- Language: Arabic, English, French
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: Salaud Morisset