The Lebanese Film Foundation recently launched a European Union -funded initiative “aimed at reviving the Lebanese film industry despite the many crises that Lebanon is witnessing,” it said in a statement. The initiative includes “two components: the first is an orientation and training program to be launched this June to empower Lebanese producers to succeed in their projects, and the second is a foundation that provides financial support to some film projects, applications for which will be submitted in November.

Maya de Frey, president of the Cinema du Liban Foundation, said the association, which “has been working since 2003 to support the Lebanese film industry and take it to the international level”, aims to preserve the valuable creativity of talented people. in Lebanese. ” filmmakers by developing their desire to continue to create. ” And to give them the opportunity to achieve this to revitalize the emerging film industry. ” He believes that “therefore, now more than ever, especially in light of the unprecedented crisis, it is necessary to restart the new creative economy to give way to this strategic industry and stimulate it, as it is one of the key components. , to allow Lebanon to have a presence in commercial and financial circles in the quantity required for globalization ”.
He explained that the Foundation has “adapted the technical support activities it provides to the current situation through workshops and other initiatives, in collaboration with its partners and other influencers, to deal effectively and efficiently with the present difficulties and meet the needs of the near future. ”
On the other hand, he said that “Lebanon’s audiovisual sector is suffering, in addition to current events, from the lack of proper and urgent policies to support the creative industries sector in general and the image industry. in particular. ” And he believes that “the legislative and regulatory framework does not encourage production and creativity, but, on the contrary, sometimes hinders their development.”
The first part of the initiative is to provide a free training and tutoring program in collaboration with the ESA Business School and the Smart ESA Accelerator for film and media producers who make films or other audiovisual works and want to develop their experiences. in entrepreneurship to ensure the conditions for the success of their projects, ”the association said in a statement.
Five producers have been selected to participate in a four -month program starting this month and ending next October. These producers are currently working on feature film projects: Rosie Al-Hajj for the feature film project Road to Damascus directed by Mido Taha and Kristel Younes (producer of Hope Comes, who participated in the Berlin Film Festival in 2021) . ) for the feature film project “The Sad Life of a Happy Pig” by Christy Wahebi, Gabi Zarazir for the feature film project she plans to do with her brother Michel Zarazire (they also produced and directed some short films, including Sous les soutanes, purchased by Canal+), and Simon Swaid for a feature documentary project produced and directed by Sursock, Eternal Legacy, and Nicholas Habbaz for Manon Tigers ’first feature film Don’ t Worry, I’m Not Fine. Note that some of Namur’s short films have previously participated in the international “Locarno” and “Toronto” festivals.
Participants were led by many experts, especially French producer Gabriel Dumont of Le Bureau Films, French salesman Hadi Zerdi (Lux Box) and entertainment lawyer Christel Salem, as well as trainers from Graduate School of Business.
The program manager, Lebanese producer Miriam Sassin said that “The Lebanese film industry, despite its huge successes, has not survived the crises, as film production has suffered badly and suffered from on the lack of financial resources, delays in filming and the postponement of the film. screening, all this has led to that workers in this sector have suffered huge losses, which led to the influx of talent working in this field, who left Lebanon to seek new horizons . .
As for the second phase of the Lebanese Film Fund initiative, it is the launch of an extraordinary one -time fund to support Lebanese feature film projects, also funded by the European Union, with a total of € 75,000, which aims to provide part of the funding for films in need of support to complete their implementation.
Applications will open from November for feature films and documentaries that have already reached production and post-production. An independent committee will select the projects that will receive support, and more information about this fund will be announced next November.