Randa Chahal Sabbag
Randa Chahal Sabbag (born 11 December 1953) was a Lebanese film director, producer and screenwriter. She was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, to an Iraqi mother and a Lebanese father. Though Chahal received numerous international awards, including the prestigious Silver Lion at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival, her body of work remains relatively unknown. Most subjects in Chahal's nine narrative films and documentaries dealt with encounters between the absurdity of war stories and the gentle bitterness of solitary, thoughtful characters. Known for their satirical tone and trenchant dialogue, her films have long been considered provocative. Around 40 minutes of her 1999 film Civilisées (A Civilized People), a black comedy about the Lebanese Civil War, were censored and thus the film was only screened once. Film critics began to recognize Chahal's work in 2003, when her feature The Kite won the Silver Lion award and several other prestigious prizes. That year, she received the National Order of the Cedar decoration in the grade of Officer from the country of Lebanon. Chahal died at age 54 in Paris, France, leaving one announced film unreleased.
The Kite
(2003)
A young 15 year old girl, Lamia, lives in a southern Lebanese village on the border with Israel. She is given in marriage to her cousin on the other side of the border. As Lamia crosses the barbed wire she also passes from childhood into adulthood, as brutal as our ... (more)
A young 15 year old girl, Lamia, lives in a southern Lebanese village on the border with Israel. She is given in marriage to her cousin on the other side of the border. As Lamia crosses the barbed wire she also passes from childhood into adulthood, as brutal as our ... (more)
Civilisées (1999)
Lebanese director Randa Chahal Sabbag spins this bleak war drama about the brutal absurdity of the urban warfare of Beirut during the 1980s. Opening with the shocking image of kittens being blown apart, the film loosely follows the travails of Bernadette (Nada ... (more)
Lebanese director Randa Chahal Sabbag spins this bleak war drama about the brutal absurdity of the urban warfare of Beirut during the 1980s. Opening with the shocking image of kittens being blown apart, the film loosely follows the travails of Bernadette (Nada ... (more)
Our Heedless Wars (1995)
September 1994, Beirut : the systematic reconstruction of the city is beginning. The civil war, which began in 1975, has been over for two years. Randa Chahal Sabbag, a Lebanese film-maker whose family was politically and military involved in the conflict, gives a ... (more)
September 1994, Beirut : the systematic reconstruction of the city is beginning. The civil war, which began in 1975, has been over for two years. Randa Chahal Sabbag, a Lebanese film-maker whose family was politically and military involved in the conflict, gives a ... (more)
The Infidels (1997)
The story takes place in an around Lebanon. It concerns Farid, a repentant Islamic fundamentalist and Charles, a French diplomat. Farid is prepared to give the French secret service a list of names of terrorists operating in France on the condition that they ... (more)
The story takes place in an around Lebanon. It concerns Farid, a repentant Islamic fundamentalist and Charles, a French diplomat. Farid is prepared to give the French secret service a list of names of terrorists operating in France on the condition that they ... (more)
Souha, Surviving Hell (2001)
The film follows Souha Béchara’s return to her village, Deir Mimas, to the Khiam jail, in the very place where she tried to assassinate General Lahd. For Souha, surviving hell is a joyful, thoughtful, and liberating travel diary. The diary of a trip that, for a ... (more)
The film follows Souha Béchara’s return to her village, Deir Mimas, to the Khiam jail, in the very place where she tried to assassinate General Lahd. For Souha, surviving hell is a joyful, thoughtful, and liberating travel diary. The diary of a trip that, for a ... (more)