West Beyrouth
Ziad Doueiri
Lebanon, 1975. The first signs of war. The Christians control West Beirut with its largely Muslim population. Tarek and Omar, two teenagers from the quarter, and May, a young Christian, tour the city in a state of crisis. After having been somewhat carefree during the first year of the war, the three teenagers are caught up in the spiral of violence...
With : Rami Doueiri, Mohamad Chamas, Rola Al Amin, Carmen Lebbos, Joseph Bou Nassar, Liliane Nemry, Leïla Karam
Screenplay : Ziad Doueiri
Image : Ricardo Jacques Gale
Sound : Nicolas Cantin, Thierry Sabatier
Music : Stewart Copeland
Editing : Dominique Marcombe
Screenplay : Ziad Doueiri
Image : Ricardo Jacques Gale
Sound : Nicolas Cantin, Thierry Sabatier
Music : Stewart Copeland
Editing : Dominique Marcombe
Production : La Sept Arte, 3B Production
Distribution: Tadrart Films
Distribution: Tadrart Films
In 1983, Ziad Doueiri moved to the United States and studied film before becoming assistant cameraman on Quentin Tarantino's first films. He made his directing debut with West Beirut. "The subject of West Beirut is already heavy. I didn't want to lose the image of the children. I chose to film things simply, to not accentuate the chaos, to not get lost in an excess of meaning. It's not exactly a story about war. It's a story about children entering into life. (...) It's as if they're watching the war from the sidelines. (...) While I was writing it, I asked myself if the war had been a traumatic experience for me. I tried to remember the pain, but couldn't call it up. I had only wonderful memories, particularly for the first two thirds of the story. It was a time when I could do whatever I wanted. That's when I discovered sex." Ziad Doueiri recently finished filming his second film, Lila Dit Ça, in French.