Jessica: Camille, Julia and I immediately began working from the word go. We now have a thriving team of six who juggle everything from marketing and media, to film judging, to event management, and the list goes on – but it works for us because our team have a passion for what we do, we believe in what we do and we love it.
continue to build the brand and attractiveness of the festival in years to come.
Jessica: We have had an immense amount of support from both the Australian and Lebanese communities. We only started the festival as a small idea, however once we approached different people and organizations, the response and support was tremendous and positive. People are genuinely excited and intrigued to learn more about the culture and its artistic facet. Nothing comes easy, but we had a fierce and passionate approach to what we do, and I think that being a team of young, goal driven and educated individuals is significant in gaining support. Australian actor Bryan Brown has been supporting our festival since its birth, which is something we’re really thankful for and very proud of. He is such a big-hearted and intelligent man, and has loved discovering Lebanese cinema with us along the way.
The LFF desk at Hoyts cinema Do you think that cinema can help to change Did you find it difficult to attract sponsors for the Festival? perceptions of Lebanon and the Lebanese community?
Camille: Attracting sponsors has been a challenge, particularly as we are young festival. Bankstown City Council and Bank of Sydney have been involved from the start, and backed the initial creation of the idea. We have also had great support from the local business community, including from those who attending the inaugural year, and then later sponsored due to its success. We hope we can
Camille: Yes, I really do. The feedback we received, particularly from audiences outside the Lebanese community, was of surprise. So many people have the common view of Lebanon as being a war-torn, conservative Arab nation. When people come to the cinema and see French and English language films, beautiful women and men, and films which tackle very confronting issues, they are