cinema

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="002285a1erlcgo.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>glialessandrini</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="glialessandrini"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="glialessandrini"><U>glialessandrini</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id133.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="underwater city discovered"><U>underwater city discovered</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id132.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="télé lumière"><U>télé lumière</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id131.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="elton johns"><U>elton john's</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id126.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="magida"><U>magida</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id119.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="400 years old"><U>400 years old</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id124.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="psychic"><U>psychic</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id102.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="relax !"><U>relax !</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mir 20march"><U>mir 20march</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id96.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="antelias record"><U>antelias record</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id95.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="miss internet"><U>miss internet</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id88.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="tabbouleh"><U>tabbouleh</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id91.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="the Maronites"><U>the Maronites</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="the sixth day"><U>the sixth day</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="deapsea"><U>deap-sea</U></A>   |   <B>cinema</B>   |   <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MZ??"><U>MZ??</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ski in leb"><U>ski in leb</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Beirut"><U>Beirut</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="fairuz"><U>fairuz</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eiffel tower"><U>Eiffel tower</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id85.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="the man"><U>the man</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="001d2c00dkelyh.gif"> <div> <IMG SRC="01ac8d20.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="210" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>cinema</I></div> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="440" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP ROWSPAN=5 COLSPAN=4 HEIGHT= 1 WIDTH="430"><div> <B>Lebanon plays host to "biggest production since Lawrence of Arabia" </B></div> <div> <B>(Daily Star)</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#006699" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>British Charles Dance plays the lead</B></div> <div> <B>Lorne Thyssen is not Lebanese. He is a pure-bred Swiss, raised in Great Britain. But the actor-director, and now producer, says his first visit to Lebanon almost 10 years ago "felt like coming home." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>His latest film, Labyrinth, has been filmed in Lebanon. With a cast of 90 international and 150 local actors, Thyssen believes that it's the "biggest production in the Middle East since Lawrence of Arabia."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The film tackles the paradoxes of a country with no unified concept of either its own history before the war or the events during it. He says the film is "meant for a Western audience who think the war was just about terrorism and violence."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"This movie has a pro-Lebanese stance," he said, sitting in his suite at the Riviera Hotel during a recent visit. "It's true to the history of events. It crosses sectarian lines." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Opening with the 1982 Israeli invasion, the film skips to the split of the Christian militias and the subsequent fighting during the early 1990s, the two events which Thyssen sees as the "defining chapters of the war."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Thyssen weaves the plot through a love story, centering around "a rather obnoxious English professor." The initial lure for the complacent professor Lush, played by British actor Charles Dance, is a Lebanese girl, Leila. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The story follows their love affair through the decade, to a moment of truth when a ragged Lush admits to his lover that he took up arms. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"I don't know what got into me," he sighs. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Lebanon is a labyrinth," replies the horrified Leila. "Once you're in it, it's very difficult to find your way out of it." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>With a sheepish grin, Thyssen admits that the plot has autobiographical roots. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But beyond the romantic pretext, the film delves into the political conflicts of the war. Some of the war's key players feature, including Bashir and Amin Gemayel, Michel Aoun, Samir Geagea, Ariel Sharon, Elie Hobeika, Charles Helou, and the Israeli Ambassador Shlomo Argov, whose attempted assassination in 1982 served as the pretext for the Israeli invasion. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"I've tried to be faithful to the events," said Thyssen who, as part of his research, interviewed Aoun and Gemayel as well as foreign ambassadors. What's more, Thyssen wants to dispel the prevalent myth of Israel's victimization in the Middle East conflict. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Enough of this 'poor Jews surrounded by Arabs,' nonsense. The world has to realize that this ghetto mentality is simply untrue in the context of Middle Eastern history. All of the current problems in this area stem from the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This makes Labyrinth all the more topical, Thyssen said, and controversial. He knows it will be hard to get distribution in the States and distribution in Lebanon might not be so easy either. The Surete General may have approved the script, but Thyssen knows that showing the film is a different story. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>While working on Labyrinth, he founded a film productions company in Lebanon, Lupo Productions, and hence will be back to continue work in the film industry. </B></div> <div> <B>For Thyssen who said that Labyrinth comes after 20 years of planning, writing, and preparing the film is the culmination of a lifelong fascination with Lebanon. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Swiss man shrugs as to why Lebanon has always held him in awe.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Maybe I was Lebanese in a past life." </B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> </tR> <tR> </tR> <tR> </tR> <tR> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>