Under the Bombs

Upper class Zeina turns up in Beirut at the start of the ceasefire, following the 33-day Israeli bombings, having traveled in a roundabout way from Dubai. She looks for a taxi to take her to the still dangerous south and the only driver willing to make the trip is Tony, who comes from that area. Zeina is looking for her son Karim, whom she had left with her sister in a small village. Ironically, she had hoped to spare him the domestic battles between her and her architect husband.When they arrive at the village, Zeina’s sister’s house is destroyed and Karim nowhere to be found. Sympathetic Tony agrees to stay with her until they locate the boy and so begins a journey that includes testimonies from war victims, sights of bombed buildings, roads and bridges, a Hezbollah rally, journalists in action and the arrival of peacekeeping forces.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Michel Leviant, Philippe Aractingi
Cinematography: Nidal Abdel Khalek
Editing: Deena Charara
Sound: Mouhab Chanesaz
Music: Rene Aubry, Lazare Boghossian
Actors: Nada Abou Farhat (Zeina), Georges Khabbaz(Tony), Rawya El Chab (receptionist), BsharaAtallah (journalist)
Production: Art’Mell & Capa Cinema & Starfield Productions & Fantascope Productions
Producers: Herve Chabalier, Francois Cohen-Seat, Paul Raphael, Philippe Aractingi
Format: 35mm Color
Production Country: Lebanon-France-UK-Belgium
Production Year: 2007
Duration: 98
Distribution in Greece: New StarVelissarios KossivakisT. +30 210 9512991newstarcine@gmail.com
Contact: Memento Films International, FranceT. +33 1 5334 9020F. +33 1 4247 1124sales@memento-films.comwww.memento-films.com

Philippe Aractingi

Born in 1964 in Beirut, where he grew up, he has made more than 40 films: reportages, documentaries and feature films, shot in France and in Lebanon, but also in the rest of the Arab world, in South Africa, Sri Lanka and Mongolia. After twelve years in Paris, he returned to his roots and moved to Lebanon, where he shot Bosta, his first fiction feature, awarded in six festivals and selected to represent Lebanon at the Oscars.

Filmography

(Selected)
1992 Through Mothers’Eyes
1993 Libre vol
1993 Beirut of Stones and Memories
1994 Chemin de femmes
1995 The Dream of the Acrobat Child (doc.)
2005 Bosta (L’autobus)
2007 Sous les bombes/Under the Bombs