Are there other festivals (outside of Lebanon) dedicated to Lebanese film, or is yours the first?
support means the world to us and we are so thankful to have him on board as our mentor.
Jessica: There are other film festivals dedicated to Lebanese Film, I believe Ireland is holding their first Lebanese Film Festival this year, which is exciting. Based on our research when we first launched our film festival, I believe the LFF here in Sydney, Australia is the largest celebration of Lebanese Cinema in the world!
You had great support for the LFF from legendary Australian actor Bryan Brown. How did he become involved? Does he have a special interest in Lebanese film or culture? Jessica: I grew up watching Bryan Brown’s films for as long as I can remember. The Thorn Birds has always been our favourite family film and my mother, grandmother and father are huge fans of Bryan’s work. I first approached Bryan when I attended a talk he hosted at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney. He was immediately intrigued and interested to become involved, and has been immensely supportive since. He officially opened our festival in Bankstown, which is where he grew up. Bryan had only ever watched Nadine Labaki’s films Caramel and Where Do We Go Now? But he loved the idea of being taken to a culture and place that he knew little about. He has shown so much support and belief in what we do. Bryan is an example of the kind of mindset that everybody should have when it comes to learning and discovering different cultures. His One of the films shown at the inaugural festival was the historic “The Broken Wings,” about the life of Khalil Gibran. Can you tell us about the history of this film, and the importance of its showing at the festival? Camille Lattouf