Film Movement picks up pair of pics

'Under the Bombs,' 'The Trap' set for 2009

By SAM THIELMAN

'Under the Bombs' follows a driver and his passenger as they look for her lost son in southern Lebanon.

Film Movement has entered not one but two danger zones, acquiring "Under the Bombs" and "The Trap," set in the recent Israel/Lebanon skirmish and post-Slobodan Milosevic Serbia, respectively.

Helmer Philippe Aractingi shot docudrama "Under the Bombs" in the midst of Israel's 2006 attacks on Beirut, which were intended to cripple terrorist org Hezbollah. Pic follows a Christian taxi driver and a female Shiite passenger who travel from Beirut to Lebanon's southern region to look for her lost son during that conflict.

"Bombs" performed well at fests in Venice and Dubai, earning Dubai's Golden Pony and Venice's Altre Visioni prize and Human Rights Award.

Noir thriller "The Trap" follows a man who, upon discovering that his son needs $30,000 worth of medical treatment, has to decide whether or not to cross a major moral boundary to get the money. Script is adapted from Nenad Teofilovic's play.

Both pics are tentatively set for an early 2009 release, starting in Gotham and rolling out further as B.O. prospects allow.