beirut
-
“A Performance is Really About Digging Into the Footage”: Editor Andrew Hafitz on Beirut
Returning to Sundance long after his first appearances there with Next Stop, Wonderland and Happy Accidents, among others, Brad Anderson’s Beirut is a thriller made from a quarter-century-old script by Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, Duplicity). Jon Hamm stars as a former diplomat, Mason Skiles, who returns to Lebanon a decade after his former posting there, getting involved in a complex hostage situation involving a standoff with his former friend-turned-terrorist Karim (Idir Chender). Editor Andrew Hafitz (The Last Days of Disco, Bully, Keane) explains how his verite background helps inform his approach to cutting and which two directors taught him the most. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018 -
“A Political Thriller with Everything You Want to See in a Movie”: DP Bjorn Charpentier on Beirut
Director Brad Anderson returns to Sundance for a sixth time with Beirut, a political thriller from screenwriter Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, The Bourne Identity). The film stars John Hamm as a U.S. diplomat who returns to Beirut after his wife was murdered there 10 years prior. Belgium-born DP Bjorn Charpentier shot the film with the work of David Fincher and Roger Deakins in mind. Below, he gets technical with his approach to lighting and lenses on the film. Bleecker Street Media will release Beirut theatrically on April 13. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2018 -
Nadine Labaki, Caramel
WRITER-DIRECTOR-STAR NADINE LABAKI IN A SCENE FROM CARAMEL. COURTESY ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS. As role models, few filmmakers are more inspirational than Nadine Labaki. On top of the inherent difficulty of succeeding as a writer-director, Labaki grew up in Lebanon’s war-ravaged capital, Beirut, in a Middle Eastern culture where women are essentially second-class citizens. However, Labaki’s passion for film drove her to overcome her obstacles, and in 1998 her short film 11 Rue Pasteur (her graduating project at Beirut’s Saint-Joseph University) won the top prize at an Arabian film festival in Paris. Back in Lebanon, Labaki honed her craft as a director […]
by Nick Dawson on Feb 1, 2008
