17/10/2009

In post-war Lebanon, every day is a holiday. "Every day is different. Every day we expect a catastrophe, which sometimes happens, and sometimes does not,” says Lebanese director Dima El-Horr (who lived through the war from the age of three to 18), of the title of her first feature film, Every Day is a Holiday [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a French/German/Lebanese co-production in competition at the Rome International Film Festival.

The story focuses on three women, who board a bus to visit their husbands in jail and find themselves lost in the desert, accompanied by the echoes of an ever-present war. But there are few festivities in the film.

"The paradox was intended", said the director. "I wanted to create a contrast between the dramatic content of what we see: a beautiful landscape. The film is pessimistic, but the optimism lies in the people, who want to continue their trip and forget the conflict".

The three main characters, superbly played by Hiam Habbas (The Syrian Bride, Lemon Tree), Manal Khader (Divine Intervention) and debut actress Raia Haidar, leave Beirut during Independence Day celebrations with different objectives. The first, fragile and courageous, must bring her husband the gun he forgot at home. The second, strong and determined, wants her husband to sign their divorce papers. The husband of the third, a naïve dreamer, was arrested on their wedding day.

From the opening scene (a bride and groom run down a tunnel in backlight, towards the camera), the film is a collage of studied shots, most of them fixed, of sunny landscapes and much silence. It is a blend of dream and reality with moments of dark humour, and a few touches of the absurd, such as when Abbas calls her husband in a fit of panic from a phone booth in the middle of nowhere.

Produced by Ciné Sud Promotion, in co-production with Nikovantastic Film and Orjouane Production, Every Day is a Holiday is being sold internationally by Umedia.

(Translated from Italian)