Bombs batter Lebanese arts
Summer film, music fests nixed
Lebanon's hitherto thriving cultural scene has become another casualty of the Israeli bombardment of the country.
Traditionally a time for film and music festivals, this summer finds Lebanon officially shut for business.
The Baalbeck music fest, which was to celebrate its 50th anni, has been canceled, along with other popular fests in Byblos and Beiteddine. The Beirut Cinema Days, Docu Days and Ne a Beyrouth fests -- all due to open in coming weeks -- are unlikely to take place.
Metropolis, Beirut's first arthouse theater, opened just one day before Israel began bombing the country. It has nixed its inaugural Critics' Week, an event held in collaboration with the French Cultural Center that would have seen the pick of this year's Cannes pics screened for Beirut auds. The Liban Jazz Festival has been postponed indefinitely.
On the TV front, leading satcasters LBC and Future, whose skeds normally would be filled with gameshows, musicvideos and chat shows, have turned to wall-to-wall news coverage. They have, so far at least, avoided being directly targeted by air strikes.
Al-Manar TV, on the other hand, given its status as the official station of Hezbollah, has had its HQ bombed and destroyed by Israeli planes. Still, the controversial satcaster -- banned by the French authorities and deemed a terrorist entity by U.S. officials -- has managed to remain on the air, albeit with some temporary blackouts. It, too, is devoting all its airtime to coverage of the conflict.
On the other side of the border, away from the north of Israel, which has suffered some fatalities as a result of Hezbollah rocket attacks, life appears to be continuing as normal.
The annual Jerusalem Film Festival went ahead without incident, with helmer Dror Sabo taking home the nod for Israeli feature for "Dead End" at the July 17 closing ceremony.
The ramifications of the deadly crisis may also extend beyond Lebanon's shores.
Organizers in Yemen canceled a music event as an act of solidarity, while uncertainly surrounds the Biennale of Arab Cinema in Paris, due to open July 22. Prints of Lebanese films by helmers Mai Masri and Akram Zaatari were stuck in Lebanon, while the vast majority of filmmakers and journos in the country will be unable to attend.
Biennale organizers were debating late last week whether to hold a commemorative event or cancel the proceedings altogether.
