Patrick Perrault, a free-lance photographer, is in Beirut to cover the never-ending war. He’s taken hostage and his life becomes one long, ruthless night. The film is the story of his captivity, along with that of a city and its people held captive by a fifteen-year war. Winner of Jury Prize at 1991 Cannes Film Festival. —Cannes Film Festival
Maroun Bagdadi (Arabic: مارون بغدادي) (January 21, 1950 – December 11, 1993) was a Lebanese film director known for his vivid portrayal of Lebanon’s civil war. Bagdadi was internationally the best-known Lebanese filmmaker of his generation. He worked with American producer/director Francis Coppola and made several films in French that became hits in France.
Maroun Bagdadi was arguably Lebanon’s most prominent filmmaker, one whose work has been seen all over the world. One of his best-known films, “Houroub Saghira” (Little Wars), was shown at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, drawing this comment from a prominent film critic: “To make a film about Beirut that eschews polemics for more universal, more human issues is an achievement.” His first Lebanese production was for television, an educational program called “7½.” In 1975, he directed his first feature film, Beyrouth Ya Beyrouth. Koullouna Lil Watan, a 75-minute documentary produced in 1979, won the Jury Honor Prize at the International… read more
I deeply admired the fact that Bagdadi's Lebanese were neither terrorists nor saints, but rather humans who had a rough job but still treated their hostage as one of their own.