3 p.m. EDT, Sunday, June 28
Eccomi… Eccoti (Here I am… Here you are) (2017) dir. Raed Rafei
Free/donation optional
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In partnership with ArteEast, Arab Film and Media Institute and Cinetopia Film Festival, AANM’s Arab Film Series presents the documentary, Eccomi… Eccoti this Pride Month. The film unfolds as a virtual road trip navigating between Italy and Lebanon. Conditioned to live in a long-distance relationship with his partner because of strict European visa regulations, the director patches together shared moments in an attempt to create a possible day-to-day reality for the couple. With a lyrical, ambient soundscape set atop a dreamy visual style oscillating between still photography and moving images, the film explores what it means to be gay in contemporary Beirut, and the existential discomfort that blocks one from reaching a sense of completeness.
Following the screening, we are pleased to be joined virtually by director Raed Rafei for an intimate talkback about his work.
Italy, Lebanon / documentary / 68 minutes / Arabic, French, Italian and English with English subtitles
Raed Rafei is a Lebanese filmmaker, writer and multimedia journalist. For over ten years, he worked as a reporter covering political, social and economic issues in the Middle East for national and international publications like The Daily Star and the Los Angeles Times. He also worked as a researcher, producer and director on TV news reports and documentaries for channels like Al-Jazeera, CNN and ARTE. Since 2011, Rafei has produced independent documentary/fiction hybrid films. He made two feature-length films: 74 (The Reconstitution of a Struggle) (2012) and Here I Am… Here You Are (2016), as well as two short films: Prologue (2011) and Salam (2017). His films have screened at international film festivals and received several prizes. Rafei is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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