Randa Chahal Sabag
Randa Chahal Sabbagh (
Awards
- National Order of the Cedar (Officer), national decoration, Lebanon, 2003
- Nestor Almendros Prize, New York City, 2000
(See below for individual film awards and nominations)
Career
Chahal began her career with documentary films but shifted to feature films by the 1990s, though she retained 'a documentary-maker's nose for contentious subject matter'.[2] She is reported to have said, "You discover in my films a common denominator. You notice that the camera only moves from right to left exactly like Arabic writing."[3]
Chahal served as a jury member at the Venice 64th International Film Festival in the Opera Prima section.
Les Infidèles, a 1997 drama, is about the relationship between a French diplomat and a former Islamist who agrees to turn over the names of his colleagues if the French government will release an imprisoned friend.[4]
Civilisées (A Civilized People) released in 1999, is a black comedy about the Lebanese Civil War, which killed at least 100,000 people.[5] Sabbagh deployed a 'vaudevillian cast'[2] including foreign servants and philanthropists, visiting expatriates, militiamen and criminals – in a profane and dis-unified story mixing elements of absurdist plays. Some 40 minutes of the film was censored for its 'obscenity' and 'uncomplimentary representation of Lebanon during this particularly unsavory spell of its history'.[2][3] It was subsequently screened only once, at the Beirut International Film Festival.
Chahal became noted in 2003 with
In 2005, Chahal started a new project with the distinguished
Filmography
Year | Title | Notes |
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2007 | Too Bad for Them |
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2002 | Le Cerf-Volant (The Kite) |
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2000 | Souha, survivre à l'enfer |
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1999 | Civilisées (A Civilized People) |
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1997 | Les Infidèles (The Infidels) |
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1995 | Nos Guerres Imprudentes |
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1991 | Ecrans de Sable (Screens of Sand)
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1984 | Cheikh Imam |
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1980 | Liban d'Autrefois (Lebanon Long Ago) |
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1978 | Pas à Pas (Step by Step) |
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Notes
- ^ THE KITE (Le Cerf-Volant): Directed by Randa Chahal Sabbagh
- ^ a b c d "Award-winning filmmaker Randa Chahal Sabbagh passes away in Paris" by Jim Quilty. The Daily Star newspaper, Wednesday, August 27, 2008
- ^ a b "Randa Chahal": NOW Extra remembers the life and work of the great Lebanese filmmaker. By Louisa Ajami, NOW Staff, September 1, 2008 Randa Chahal
- ^ Les infidèles (TV Movie 1997) - IMDb, retrieved 2021-05-25
- ^ Lebanese Filmmaker: Randa Chahal Sabbagh by Mai Hoang, World Press Review, March 2004 issue (VOL. 51, No. 3) Lebanese Filmmaker: Randa Chahal Sabbagh
- ^ Film Journal International 2004
- ^ A critique of 'The Syrian Bride' (Eran Riklis) with a praise to "The Kite", by Maria Garcia, Film Journal International, Sept. 2008
References
- Randa Chahal Sabag at IMDb
- Randa Chahal Website about Randa Chahal