Bringing Lebanese cinema to Cannes

ENAR

Starting today, film industry elite from all over the world will gather in the south of France for the Cannes film festival. Among the crowds will be a delegation from Lebanon including representatives from Fondation Liban Cinema and the Lebanese Tourism Office in Paris, a small team out to educate festival goers on the history of Lebanese cinema and promote contemporary Lebanese films. Zeina Toutounji, a publicist and translator who’s been representing Lebanon at Cannes since the ‘Lebanese Pavilion’ first opened nine years ago, says when it comes to Lebanese cinema, most people at the festival have a base of knowledge. “If you talk to people who only go to see blockbusters, of course they may know very little about Lebanese cinema,” she says, “but for people who love cinema, they know there is cinema in Lebanon.” This awareness is thanks in part to the strong history of Lebanese film