Description

Lara, a 24 year old Lebanese artist living in NYC, returns home to Beirut for her father’s funeral. Her elegant strong-willed mother, Rima, pushes for Lara to behave in accordance with the social mores of Beirut and the traditional ways of grieving. Lara, in mourning and in need of her family, yields. Her Jewish Canadian fiancee, Noah, shows up to support her – but is surprised to discover that Lara has never told her family about him. Lara can’t bring herself to risk losing her family but eventually must find a way to be true to herself.

Director's Bio

Dania Bdeir’s work focuses on social and cultural stories about Lebanon, her biggest heartache and sincerest inspiration. Bdeir was born in Canada, where her parents traveled to escape the Lebanese civil war. They later moved back to Beirut, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from the American University of Beirut.

In 2016, Bdeir received her MFA in writing and directing from Tisch School of the Arts where she received a full scholarship on her third year. Her pre-thesis film Meshkal (English title: Kaleidoscope), has traveled to film festivals in France, Morocco, Pakistan, Mexico, Czeck Republic, India and many more. It has won a few notable awards including “Award of Excellence” at the 2014 Canada International film festival and “Golden Palm” at the 2014 Mexico International Film Festival. Bdeir, now a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, is now touring the festival circuit with her latest short film Bil Abyad (English title: In White) which had its world premiere at the 2017 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

In White, which received the Spike Lee production grant as well as the 2016-2017 Riese award, is a proof of concept for her first feature film which she is currently in development for.

Credits

Cast: Maria Achkar, Roula Hamadeh, Benjamin Zusman, Marwa Khalil, Lucie Choucair, Julien Farhat
Writer, Director, Producer: Dania Bdeir
Co-Producer: Ginger Beirut Productions
Director of Photography: Christopher Aoun
Editor: Ted Raviv, Johnny Bassett
Production Designer: Sabine Sabbagh
Sound Mixer: Rawad Hobeika
Sound Designer: Eli Cohn
Graphic Designer: Samer B saleh, Wael Morcos, TANDEM

Plays in

1. 

   MATINEE TWO

   93 mins

   The MATINEE TWO program of the Nitehawk Shorts Festival features nine short films about community, race, loss, and family bonds. Includes Q&A with filmmakers.

   In This Program: GET ACTION, IN WHITE, PEACE OF QUEV, DEAR HENRI,, NIGHT, SUNDOGS, RODNEY, SHY GUYS, THE BACKSEAT

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