The Last Man (2006)
- Country: Lebanon
- Language: Arabic
- Directed by: Ghassan Salhab
- Screenplay: Danielle Arbid
- Cast: Carlos Chahine, Raia Haidar, Faek Homaissi, Raymond Hosni, Aouni Kawas, Roland Tomb, May Sahab
- Cinematography by: Jacques Bouquin
- Music by: Cynthia Zaven
- Producer: Marie Balducchi
- Production: Djinn House Productions
- Distribution: Agat Films & Cie
- Plot: Khalil (Carlos Chahine), a doctor who works at a hospital, is strangely linked to victims of a serial killer who leaves them without blood. Ghassan Salhab’s The Last Man evokes the layers of the past that make up Beirut’s sedimented present. Rather than approach history and politics head-on, Salhab’s film does its work through an unlikely idea: a vampire is sucking the lifeblood from Beirut’s citizenry, one victim at a time. A respected doctor, Khalil Shams (Carlos Chahine), whom we see scuba-diving in one of the film’s many enigmatic and beautiful sequences, begins to suspect he himself is the vampire. Recoiling from sunlight, Dr. Shams explores the darker dimensions of a wintry Beirut (seen through Jacques Bouquin’s stunning cinematography) as he increasingly questions his own capacity for intimate violence. Titled Ruins in Arabic, this dream-like film suggests Beirut as a city continually searching for ways to forget its past, all the while unable to stem the slow bleed of history back into the city’s consciousness.
- Running Time: 101 minutes
In the battlefields (2004)
- International title: In the Battlefields
- Original title: Dans les champs de bataille
- Country: Belgium, France
- Directed by: Danielle Arbid
- Screenplay: Danielle Arbid
- Cast: Marianne Feghali, Rawia Elchab, Laudi Arbid, Aouni Kawas, Carmen Lebbos, Roland Tomb, Roger Assaf, Takla Chamoun, Issam Abou Khaled
- Cinematography by: Hélène Louvart
- Film editing: Nelly Quettier
- Art director: André Fonsny
- Costume designer: Dorothée Guiraud
- Producer: Jacques-Henri Bronckart, Jérôme Vidal
- Production: Versus Production, Quo Vadis Cinéma, Radio Télévision Belge Francofone (RTBF) (BE), Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (FR)
- Plot: Daughter of self-destructive parents, Lina, 12, doesn’t show much interest in the war taking place around her in 1980’s Beirut. Instead, Siham, her aunt’s beautiful adolescent maid, is the focal point of her rebellious and neglected childhood. As the basis for the girls’ relationship shifts, issues of loyalty and power set off a series of events, which isolate Lina even more. Unlike films in which the violence of an urban war zone motivate a family to strengthen their ties, in this film, director Danielle Arbid depicts relationships that are shattered by passion, reprisal, and guilt.
- Running Time: 90 minutes
Miracle (2003)
- International title: Miracle
- Country: Lebanon
- Directed by: Georges Homsy
- Screenplay: Georges Homsy
- Cast: Carlos Azar, Raymonde Gelalian, Carmen Lebbos, Roland Tomb, Mona Chahine, Joëlle Homsy, Hamzah Nassrallah, Anis Abi Khalil
- Cinematography by: Toufic Tabbal
- Film editing: Leyla Kanaan & Riad Chebli
- Costume designer: Dorothée Guiraud
- Producer: Dima El Joundi
- Production: Université Saint-Joseph
- Plot: 7:55 AM. The waiting room at the United States embassy in Cyprus fills with visa applicants.
Alone in a corner, a 27-year-old Lebanese man waits his turn. When he is called on to translate, he is torn between
translating, his affection for his compatriots, and his own situation as a visa applicant.
