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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Movie Trailer: </span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2754879135189524161">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2754879135189524161</a>
<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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src="cid:image002.jpg@01C7A143.49D42870" align=left hspace=12 v:shapes="_x0000_s1029"><![endif]><b><font
size=2 color="#333333"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:#333333;
font-weight:bold'>Beirut - Despite the political turmoil that has paralyzed
Lebanon's economy, Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki has paved her way to the
Director's Fortnight section of the upcoming 60th <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Cannes</st1:City></st1:place> Film festival.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'> Another section, Tous Les Cinemas Du Monde, will
showcase a day- long, mini festival of Lebanese films to illustrate the
country's cinematic strength and the role of history in domestic film
production.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>Directors Nadine Labaki and Danielle Arbid earned the
privilege for their films Caramel (Sukar Banat) and Un homme perdu (A lost
man).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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alt="nadine labaki cannes film festival" v:shapes="_x0000_s1027"><![endif]><font
size=2 color="#333333"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:#333333'>Labaki
(pictured right), a well-known actress and music video director, finished her
feature film Caramel, a comedy, just nine days before <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> launched its 33-day war against <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region></st1:place>
on July 12, 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>'In a sense, I wanted the Israeli people to see the film and
understand what kind of people we are,' Labbaki was quoted as saying.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>'Caramel' tells the story of five Lebanese women from
different generations and religious backgrounds who meet in a <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City> beauty salon.
They use the 'Caramel' in the title to wax their legs.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>The feature film concentrates on the five women. Layal, played
by Nadine Labaki, works in the beauty salon in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Beirut</st1:City></st1:place> along with three other women. Each
one has a problem: Layal has an affair with a married man, Nisrine, a
Christian is set to wed a Muslim, Rima is lesbian and Jamal frets about
growing old.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>The film was produced by French producer Anne-Dominique
Toussaint's Les Films des Tournelles with a budget of 1.2 million euros (1.6
million dollars).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>The Arab TV network ART, Lebanese distribution company, Sabbah
Media, were also contributors and are responsible for distributing the film
across the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>'I think Labbaki will encourage other Lebanese filmmakers to
produce more Lebanese films, and enhance the film industry after a long
setback following the Civil War in 1975,' said Sadek Sabbah, the manager of
Sabbah Media.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>'We want to make sure Caramel is well distributed because we
think all Arabs who love Lebanon and know Lebanese society well, will enjoy
watching it,' Sabbah said and described Labbaki as 'a talented-perfectionist
director.'<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>He expressed hope that people like Labbaki would help revive <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region></st1:place>'s
film industry and bring it to the forefront once again.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>In the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>, a blend
of lemon juice, water, and sugar is boiled to make a caramel mixture that is
then cooled on marble. In beauty salons, it is used to remove unwanted hair.
This was the titular inspiration for Lebanese director Nadine Labaki's <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Caramel,</span></i> a bittersweet story of five
women of varying ages who meet or work in a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Beirut</st1:City></st1:place> beauty salon and help each other
overcome the problems they encounter in their lives with regard to love,
marriage, and sex. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>Labaki describes the filmmaking process: <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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size=2 color="#333333"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:#333333'>"The
film came from personal questioning I have about Lebanese women [who] are an
example of emancipation, of liberty, of independence for other regions in the
<st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>. Lebanese women are really doing
what they want in their lives. But at the same time, there is this struggle
with their traditions, their religion, their education. It is still a little
bit rigid. So it is a struggle between these two worlds. I am someone who is
working in films. I am doing whatever I want. I am an example also of freedom
and emancipation. At the same time, I always have a huge feeling of guilt. I
don't want to disappoint anyone. I want to be an example of this woman that is
perfect for her family, perfect for her husband, perfect for her children.
This is how the film started. I wanted to take examples of different women,
different ages, different religions, different situations so I can try to sum
up the struggle of the Lebanese woman. I [worked with] male cowriters because
I wanted to have a male view on the script. I didn't want a film against men
because this is not my aim. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>"The women that I chose for the film are very courageous
women. They want to make a difference, they want to change things, and this
is why they are in this film. Of course, it is very delicate. All the women
in the film are women who want to enlighten. They are willing to take the
chance. Because [<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>]
is a country where family ties are really important. You live with your
family until you are married. If a woman is 50, she has to live with her
family because she is not married. There is so much pressure. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>"Acting in the film was a huge risk for me. Of course, I
had a will to do it. I love acting. I love to be in the skin of someone else,
to get out of the routine of my own personality. But I was very hesitant
because I didn't want to harm the film. But then I realized when I was with
the other actors in the scene, because they are not professionals, they felt
more comfortable with me being with them in the scene. So, I started getting
the best out of them when I was with them. There is also a lot of
improvisation in the film, so I could take it into the directions I wanted.
So I took the decision to act, and I don't regret it at all. It was even
easier for me to direct from 'the inside' than from 'the outside.' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>"When you think about <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City>, normally you see a grey picture,
you see smoke, you see buildings that are destroyed, you see women crying in
the street. This is what comes to your mind when you see the word <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City>. And I wanted to
change that. I wanted to make a film that was colorful and about warm people,
because this is also our reality. I think I come from a generation that
doesn't want to look back, that doesn't want to talk about war anymore. It
wasn't easy in my case, because I finished the shoot and a week later the war
broke out again. So I had a huge feeling of guilt. Why was I making a film
about life when my country was at war? But then I thought maybe this was my
way of struggling, of resisting: making films about life [in a time of war]. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#333333'>"I think it helped me being a woman director. I was very
lucky to find a producer. I found a producer even before I started to write.
I met with my producer, Anne-Dominique Toussaint, in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region> and I
was telling her about my dream of making a film and what I wanted to talk
about, and she was interested. And two years later, we are in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cannes</st1:place></st1:City>. I have never
had a struggle because I was a women director."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>[video, Arabic] Movie Trailer: <a
href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2754879135189524161">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2754879135189524161</a>
<br>
[video, French] Press Conference with Nadine Labke: <a
href="http://dabble.com/node/11944779">http://dabble.com/node/11944779</a> <br>
[video, French] Film projection of Caramel: <a
href="http://dabble.com/node/11944776">http://dabble.com/node/11944776</a> <br>
Source 1: <a
href="http://www.premiere.com/cannes/3843/cannes-femmes-filmmakers-page4.html">http://www.premiere.com/cannes/3843/cannes-femmes-filmmakers-page4.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Source 2: <a
href="http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2007/05/cannes_film_fes.php">http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2007/05/cannes_film_fes.php</a>
</span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'><br>
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