I want to see

STORY LINE

July 2006. A war breaks out in Lebanon. A war that crushes the hopes of peace and the momentum of a whole generation. We no longer know what to write, what stories to recount, what images to show. We ask ourselves: what can cinema do? That question, we decide to translate it into reality. We go to Beirut with an icon, an actress who, to us, symbolises cinema, Catherine Deneuve. She will meet our close friend, the artist and performer Rabih Mroué. Together, they will drive through the regions devastated by the conflict. It is the beginning of an unpredictable, unexpected adventure.

PRODUCTION

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige

Animation:	Ghassan Halwani
Financed by:	Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) Doha Film Institute
With the support of:	Fonds francophone de production audiovisuelle du Sud Urban Distribution International SANAD
With the participation of :	Pascale et Mikael Zammar

CAST & CREW

Lebanon / France – 2008 – color Nadim Asfar

Duration	75 minutes
Format	35mm 2.35 Dolby SR
Actors	Catherine Deneuve Rabih Mroué
Directors	Joana Hadjithomas et Khalil Joreige
Images	Julien Hirsch
Sound	Guillaume Le Braz Sylvain Malbrant Emmanuel Croset
Editing	Enrica Gatolini
Editing consultor	Tina Baz Legal
Assistants directors	Wael Deeb Emile Sleilaty
Script	Zeina Saab de Melero
Production coordinator	Marianne Katra
Make up	Mina Malsumura
Hairdresser	Jean-Jacques Puchu-Lapeyrade
Costume dresser	Nadine Fenianos
Still Photo	Patrick Swirc
Music	Scrambled Eggs – Joseph Ghosn /Discipline
Produced by	Edouard Mauriat Anne-Cécile Berthomeau Farès Ladjimi (Mille et une productions – France) Georges Schoucair (Abbout productions – Lebanon) Tony Arnoux
In association with	COFICUP 2 – un fonds BACKUP FILMS
With the support of	Centre National de la Cinématographie Hubert Bals Fund – International Film Festival Rotterdam Banque Libano-Française CMA-CGM
With the participation of	Abbas Jaber Edmond Asseily and Ziad Abdelnour Fondation Groupama Gan pour le cinéma

DIRECTOR'S NOTES

“On July 2006, during the war with Israel that broke out in Lebanon, we were stuck in Paris. For the first time, we were living the war at a distance, as spectators. The war was a real upheaval. It wasn’t just any war, or one more war. By plunging us again in a cycle of violence it crowned an historic evolution and was part of a more global division of the world, made more radical by 9/11. We badly wanted to do a film on this war but we were full of questions : In the face of a very violent war, of the spectacular images of television, what kind of images could we produce? What can cinema do in such situations of extreme violence ? We decided to ask this question in a direct way, to introduce fiction by way of a cinema icon, in a situation which seems to admit only a flood of images hastily termed real or documentary. Suggest to Catherine Deneuve, an actress we greatly admire and who, through her choices, represents Cinema, to drive till the border of South Lebanon together with Rabih Mroué, an artist and actor with whom we work constantly. The idea seemed close to alchemy. In such a context, what would their meeting produce? What emotion could arise? Would we be able to “show again” images of ruins and despear and make people react to it ? Would we be able to “see again” ?

SCREENINGS

Cannes Film Festival, Official Selection – Un Certain Regard (France)
Paris Cinéma (France)
Toronto International Film Festival (Canada)
Festival International du Film Francophone, Namur (Belgium)
Antalya International Film Festival (Turkey)
Ayam Beyrouth al cinamaiya (Lebanon)
Gijón International Film Festival (Spain)
Filmex International Film Festival (Japan)
Französischen Filmtagen Tübingen (Germany)
Dubai International Film Festival (United Arab Emirates)
The countende, MOMA, New York (United States)
Rotterdam International Film festival(Netherlands)
Goteborg International Film Festival (Sweden)
Bafici Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Belgrade International Film Festival (Serbia)
Sao Paolo International Film Festival (Brazil)
Shashat’s 4th Women’s Film Festival (Ramallah)
Instituto di valencia (Spain)
Centro Galego de Artes da Imaxe (Spain)
Stadtkino wien (Austria)
Institut Français de Rabat (Morocco)
Semaine du documentaire de Fès (France)
Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (Argentina)
Visions du réel Nyon (Switzerland)
Miami Film Festival (United States)
Tiburon International Film Festival (United States)
Rome Film Festival, “Printemps du cinéma français” (Italy)

RELEASED IN

Lebanon : MADistribution France : Sheyllac Belgium: Les films de l’Elysée Canada: Film Option Portugal : Clap Filmes Russia : A-One Films Spain : Piramide Films United Kingdom : Soda Pictures

AWARDS

• Gijón International Film Festival, Spain – Non-fiction and Documentary Award • International Film Festival WATCH DOCS. Human Rights in Film, Warsaw, Poland – Special Jury Mention • Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma et des Films de Télévision, Paris, France – Best Singular Film Prize