surprised at Lebanon’s open-mindedness, its humour and its beauty.
culture is at heart, cinema will help people understand that.
Jessica: Absolutely. Cinema has the ability to let audiences enter new worlds – to imagine, to understand, to feel. Not every film may be positive,
The Gebran restaurant, one of the LFF venues
You received entries for the festival from countries across the world, including Lebanon, France, Italy, Canada and Australia. Were you surprised by the strength of the filmmaking An LFF screening in Canberra culture in Lebanese communities abroad?
and that is not a bad thing, that is just a reflection or expression of reality. Cinema is such a strong educational and artistic tool, and I think Lebanese cinema has so much potential and meaning, it calls for the world to understand that Lebanese people are just as intelligent, willing and passionate as any other culture. Lebanese cinema calls for people to stop being ignorant to the culture, to explore the artistic abilities and culturally rich gems the country holds. There are good and bad people in every culture, it is something we can’t deny, but I’m not going to let the bad minority ruin it for Lebanon, because that bad minority is not what the country or
Camille: I was actually not surprised by the universality of films received for the festival. Lebanese, including my own family, have had a long history of moving across the world, but have kept close connections with their towns, villages, religious communities and Lebanon generally. Therefore, I expected a strong element of international submissions from Lebanese around the world. It was rather comforting to know that Lebanese continue to excel in all fields across the world.
Jessica: I was not surprised, I was impressed that so many people from different countries somehow