After the success of the Lebanese Film Festival 8th edition (held from August 20 to August 24 of 2009), production house “Né à Beyrouth” launches this year a DVD of eight Lebanese short films.

Loyal to its annually Lebanese Film Festival that was held in August 2009, production house " Né à Beyrouth " returns several months later with the aunching of a DVD of short films by Lebanese filmmakers including Leila Kanaan, Marc Sayegh , Nadim Tabet ... etc.. "The DVD is a selection of 8Lebanese short films tackling various subjects. This compilation is unique from the fact that it’s all about Lebanese short films found in all formats. This DVD includes 4 short-fiction films, 2 short experimental films, 1 animation and 1 Home Movie, "said Leila Nahas from né à Beyrouth , adding that the short format has been chosen following requests from the Lebanese audience who won’t find it in video shops or among National Archives. She pointed out that the main purpose of this DVD is to provide a platform to enhance broadcasting and ensure visibility for Lebanese filmmakers through their short films, "this allows them to come forward and reach a wider audience ".

Launching such a product on the Lebanese market is not new to the production house since it already tried it in 2005. According to Pierre Sarraf, producer and partner of “né à Beyrouth”, “despite some gaps in programming and manufacturing the 2005 edition of the DVD, we had excellent feedback from the public both in Lebanon and abroad”. A record that has encouraged the team to launch a new DVD this year, having learned from past experience.

As for Leila, this DVD allows them to consolidate their role as catalyst in terms of local films production and distribution. "We hope to be able to produce this DVD regularly; this project is for us intimately related to the Lebanese Film Festival that we’ve been organizing for eight years now”. Filmmakers’ challenges, whose short films are featuring in the DVD, is even more important in terms of visibility: "It is heartening to see one’s film making money while sharing it with the public” said Leila, stressing on the role of platform visibility of this DVD, whether in Lebanon or abroad.

The DVD is all about 8 short films, which reflect in one way or another local film production. Similar to the 2005 edition: the "Home Movie" that is also included in the 2009 edition is considered as a kind of trademark of the Festival, a signature. This kind of films is edited by the team of né à Beyrouth from family archives filmed on Super 8 support in the 50s, 60s or 70s. "These archives found usually in the Sunday market, abandoned in the shops, forgotten in boxes, tell our life, our romances, our birthdays, our vacations, our trips ...” admits Pierre Sarraf.  After organizing live musical performances accompanying archival images "home movies" in the early editions of the Lebanese Film Festival, Pierre found crucial to include a "home movie" in this DVD. The Lebanese public had indeed expressed a very positive feeling vis-à-vis this kind of films.

The DVD is on the market in Lebanon since September and will be online in a few days on AntoineOnline.com. It will soon be available on a number of international online sites.