[LCM Events] [Leb4ever] Missed the Oscars, but in Boston soon: Caramel

[Loai Naamani]

Playing at Kendall Square Cinema on February 8th; please circulate to
friends in other US cities. More below on missing this year's Oscars. Best,
L.

 


US trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpnC8cUIij0
Long trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdVShbXTSIA 

*RELEASE SCHEDULE

(subject to change)

http://www.newamericanvision.com/Caramel.html



February 1

New York (Upper West Side) [Lincoln Plaza]

New York (SoHo) [The Angelika]

Los Angeles (Santa Monica) [The Landmark]

Los Angeles (West Hollywood) [Sunset 5]

Los Angeles (Irvine) [Westpark 8]

Los Angeles (Encino) [Town Center 5]

Los Angeles (Pasadena) [Playhouse 7]

Chicago [The Century Centre]

Philadelphia [The Ritz]

San Francisco [The Embarcadero]

 

February 8

Atlanta [The Tara]

Baltimore [The Charles]

Boston [The Kendall]

Dallas [The Magnolia]

Denver [The Chez Artist]

Detroit [The Maple Art]

Seattle [TBD]

 

February 15

Austin [The Arbor]

Portland [Fox Tower]


TBD

Washington, DC

 

Running Time: 1 hour 36 minutes

Rated PG for thematic elements involving sexuality, language and some
smoking




 

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

 

We would like to tell you about CARAMEL, a new award-winning Lebanese film
that will open in select cities next month.

 

This film is special for many reasons.

 

First, it is critically acclaimed. A hit at the Cannes Film Festival this
past year, CARAMEL went on to win the Audience Award at The San Sebastian
Film Festival. And it is Lebanon's Official Submission to the Best Foreign
Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards next month.

 

Second, CARAMEL is an Arab film that is not only directed by a woman, it
also features an all-women cast. This is, in and of itself, an exceptional
achievement.

 

Third, it is utterly charming. CARAMEL centers around five women whose lives
intersect in a beauty salon, a colorful and sensual microcosm of Beirut. The
salon is a place where several generations come into contact, talk and
confide in each other. Between haircuts and sugar waxing with caramel, they
engage in intimate and liberated conversations that reveal their joys and
fears surrounding men, sex and motherhood.

 

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, it marks one of the widest U.S.
theatrical releases of a film from an Arab nation in recent years.
Supporting this film sends a message to the film industry that there is a
viable market for films from this part of the world. It  also affords those
outside the Arab-American community an opportunity to gain a wider
perspective on a region of the world that most know far too little about.
Films like CARAMEL remind us that our similarities oftentimes vastly
outweigh our differences.

 

We urge you to help us spread the word by sending the URL link for this page
to the members of your organization, and your friends and neighbors. 

 

For additional information, please visit: http://www.caramelmovie.com
<http://www.caramelmovie.com/> 

 

If you have any questions, please contact us at:
caramel at newamericanvision.com

 

Thank you

 

 

 

 <http://www.associatedpress.com> 

Oscars 2008 : Bittersweet 'Caramel' failed to make the first cut  

January 21, 2008    

 

Zeina Karam - From a country more known for violent politics, a
taboo-breaking movie about a group of ordinary women meeting at a Beirut
beauty salon may change how people view war-torn Lebanon.  "Caramel,"
directed by Nadine Labaki, digs into the lives of five women, of different
religious backgrounds, as they struggle to deal with heartbreak, sexuality
and aging between haircuts, facials and intimate conversations at the salon.

 

The bittersweet story was one of 63 entries seeking a best-foreign-film
nomination at this year's Oscars but failed to make the first cut last week,
when a short-list of nine was announced. The list will be whittled down to
the five finalists Tuesday.

 

Still in the running Monday was Quebec's Denys Arcand and his "Age of
Darkness" ("L'Age des tenebres"), the final instalment in his trilogy that
began with "The Decline of the American Empire" in 1986. "Barbarian
Invasions," the second film in the trilogy, won the best-foreign-film Oscar
in 2004.

 

"Caramel" or "Sukkar Banat" in Arabic, refers to a waxing method used by
women in the Middle East to remove undesired body hair with a mixture of
water, sugar and lemon juice brought to the boil and then left to cool.  

The movie, Labaki said in a recent television interview, is fast changing
Western stereotypes about Lebanon - away from the bombings and carnage that
have deeply marked the traditionally liberal country with a unique mix of
Christian and Muslim.

 

"They like Lebanon through this film. They are seeing an image they don't
know existed," she said. "I don't deny we are a country that has had many
wars, but we are also other things. We are very colourful and warm as people
and we love life."

 

In the movie, Labaki also plays the role of Layal, a Christian beautician
involved with a married man who promises to leave his wife for her but never
does. Layal eventually finds herself face to face with the wife - having to
wax her legs at the salon.

 

Another character, Nisrine, a Muslim, is about to get married but is
petrified her husband will leave her when he finds out she is not a virgin.
She opts to have her hymen repaired surgically. When her fiancee phones her
while she's at the clinic, she tells her friends, much to their amusement
and that of the audience: "Tell him I went to the seamstress."

 

Another salon employee, Rima, is tormented by her attraction for women and
falls desperately in love with a client who comes in regularly to the salon
get her hair done.

 

"This movie is a result of questions I was asking myself about who we are as
Lebanese women. We are lost between East and West and haven't found
ourselves yet," Labaki told Lebanon's Future TV. On the surface, open and
modern, Lebanese women still suffer from the restraints and self-denying
conservatism present in all Arab societies.

 

The 33-year-old actor and screenwriter, already well-known for directing
video clips for top Arab pop music stars, has travelled constantly since
"Caramel" debuted in early 2007. An assistant said Labaki was not available
for an interview.

 

"Caramel" has been sold in more than 40 countries. It opened the Paris
Cinema Film Festival and won three prizes at the San Sebastian International
Film Festival in Spain. It ran for the Camera d'Or during the 2007 Cannes
Film Festival and has won various Middle Eastern awards.

 

Caroline Labaki, Nadine's sister who worked on the film's costume design,
said the movie is a resounding success, regardless of whether it made the
cut at the Oscars. "This movie laid open issues, without preaching or
claiming to offer solutions. It merely put them up for debate and made
people reflect on them," she said.

 

Giselle Awad, who plays the role of an eccentric salon client who refuses to
accept she is growing old, said the movie was candid without being insolent.

 

"It's very personal. It tells the stories of ordinary people, stories shared
by women all over the world," she said. "That's what made it a success."  

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