Artist’s Cinema hopes to generate dialogue

Work of 3 contemporary Lebanese artists was recently screened at the Katara Art Center

By Umer Nangiana

This month the cinema at Katara Art Center (KAC) was reserved for Labanese artists featuring the works of three contemporary artists from the region, Ali Cherri, Omar Fakhoury and Ghassan Halwani.

People were impressed. One visitor said, “The first film was very relaxing and soft. It was a nice break away from commercial films to see something genuinely soothing. Such films stir the mind and provoke thought.”

The screenings were third in a series called Artist’s Cinema. Taking place monthly at KAC, this month’s film screenings showcased four short films and animations by the three Labanese filmmakers.

KAC wants people in Doha to be introduced to the films being produced by contemporary artists in the region. In its statement, the centre said, “As film and video is an increasing part of the art practice of many contemporary artists in the region, alongside painting, photography installation, and performance, an avenue to showcase these works becomes important.”

The works shown varied between different forms and approaches, each displaying the wide array of approaches that an artist can take in making films.

Ali Cherri’s work Un cercle autour du soleil, utilises a dreamlike rhythm to recall childhood memories of the civil war and the city landscape. Destruction and its ruins all around Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, is shown in his video.

However, in his war account, Cherri talks about how he used to feel safe under the blanket during the bombings, and about the discovery of his own body. Being sarcastic, he declared that his body was too fragile and ugly to deserve a tragic death during the war. Also, he had “felt disappointed upon hearing news of the end of the conflict.”

“I was disappointed the day they announced the war had ended. I used to be elated at the idea of living in a city that was eating itself, like excess stomach fluid that digests and gradually eats away the stomach,” said the voice over — representing the director — in the film.

The film is a reflection on growing up in Beirut during the years of the civil war, and how to adapt to the post-war life; accepting a body that is in ruin, and learning to live in the city that is always already in ruin. Cherri for instance, said, “During my early years I loved darkness. Especially during the fighting I used to close the curtains in my room, turn off the lights and get under the bed covers.”

At other points, he goes, “Nowadays, perhaps only the dead have a home to go back to in Beirut. We citizens of Beirut can only hope to be accepted among them, and thus be able to inhabit our city again.”

Omar Fakhoury’s Innocence dealt with humorous and absurd repetition around the topic of innocence with the tumultuous Lebanese social and political landscape. It was a small video where over twenty people from different backgrounds and in varying settings were asked to speak a single sentence, “I, Omar Fakhoury, declare myself to be innocent with respect to everything that has happened in Lebanon from 1979 up to now.”

It was the artist’s way of rebelling against a so-called revolution raising head in his war-torn country.

Ghassan Halwani’s darkly surreal animation works created otherworldly narratives with a thick and organic soundtrack. Moving lines and forms, taking the story forward on powerful soundtrack, the short animated film put across not one but multiple messages.

The KAC said that the end goal in displaying these films was not just to give the works exposure, but also to generate discussion around them, and to inspire people across a wide variety of disciplines film and video as an avenue for creative expression.”

The films themselves are drawn from a variety of sources, usually in collaboration with international art galleries and institutions. This edition of the film screenings was made possible through collaboration with Lombard-Freid Gallery in New York City, who provided the video and film works of three different artists from the region.

Ali Cherri, born in Beirut in 1976, is a visual artist and designer working with video, installation, performance, multimedia, and print. A graduate of Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut in 2000, he completed a Master’s Degree in Performing Arts in DasArts (Amsterdam) in 2005. Widely exhibited, in the past year his work has been seen in Qatar, the UAE, Hong Kong, Brazil, USA, Lebanon, Canada, Australia, Turkey, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Omar Fakhoury is a multidisciplinary artist born in 1979. He studied Fine Arts at the Lebanese University and at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. He is currently a lecturer at the Institut National des Beaux Arts II, University of SaintJoseph and Academie Libanaise des BeauxArts. His work has been showcased at galleries and festivals in Lebanon, France, Turkey, Bahrain, England, Cyprus and Italy.

Ghassan Halwani is an artist born in Beirut in 1979. He completed a Master’s Degree in marketing and advertising and went to Paris to pursue a degree in photography and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art. In addition to his multidisciplinary art practice, he has worked on projects such as children’s books, and has exhibited throughout the region.