“I cannot but recall that pod of red chili pepper coming toward me, held in my dad’s hand as he chided, shouted, and threatened me not to fiddle with our new VCR. A memorable machine it was, the first in the building, neglected except for repeated use of two video tapes: One of an Arabic film whose title I forget and a second containing three taped episodes, dubbed in Arabic, of the cartoon series Grandizer. All the while, vendor carts roamed the streets of Beirut packed full of videotapes and decked with speakers blasting the song ‘…Immak, Ya Loubnan’.”
Raed Yassin The New Film Video, 12 min, Arabic with English subtitles - 2008
“When I was in Cairo last year, I was interviewing Egyptian actors for my new film. In an interview with Farouk al Fishawi he confessed that Mahmoud Hemeda stole the lead role from him in the new Mohammad Khan film --The President. I looked at Him, and said, ‘But I heard that Mahmoud Yassin is going to do the role of the president.’ He looked a bit nervous, ‘What!!! This guy can’t even act the role of the foreign minister!’ I apologized immediately, ‘Sorry I mean Mahmoud abed Al Aziz is going to do the role, not Mahmoud Yassin, I just mixed up the three Mahmouds.’ After moments of silence he replied, ‘I don’t know why film directors in this country don’t give the right role to the right actor’ and left whistling the national anthem.”
Nadim Asfar Print (1) Video, 15 min, English - 2007
“I was searching for my frame. Possibly Maybe. I wasn’t a photographer anymore. I held a camera. I wasn’t a photographer anymore. I was in love.”
Sirine Fattouh La Traverse Video, 10 min 30 sec, 2008
"La Traverse is a video recounting my impressions on the tensions in Lebanon. It is offered neither as denunciation nor criticism, but merely a personal perception of a country that has been in constant conflict, in one way or another, for over 30 years."
