Khazen

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The Lebanese film “I Want to See” is an experimental work that is an interesting watch. Written and directed by husband and wife, Khalil Joreige and Joana Hadjithomas, they spin a story of a post-war Lebanon. Using part scripted and part documentary style filming and directing, Joreige and Hadjithomas take film to a whole new level.

As we start the film, we see famous French actor Catherine Deneuve, playing herself in the film, talking to her security agent. The first words we hear are, “I want to see,” arguing about her going to Lebanon to film. Then there is a quick transition to meeting Rabih Mroué, the director’s favorite actor who is in all their films.

Then our actors take to the road. But not until we see the actual directors introduce them and tell them to get acquainted. Deneuve and Mroué drive and walk through towns, seeing the destruction and rebuilding taking place. They are on their way to the town that Mroué grew up in. When they get there, rubble fills the streets. Mroué wanted to show Deneuve where he had lived as a child, but he couldn’t find the building; even the road to the house was destroyed. The confusion and anguish on his face makes the scene.

Parisa Hafezi, Sylvia Westall, Reuters

VIENNA/BEIRUT (Reuters) — Iran signaled on Friday it backed a six-month transition period in Syria followed by elections to decide Bashar al-Assad's fate, a proposal floated at peace talks as a concession but which the president's foes rejected as a trick to keep him in power.

Sources who described the Iranian proposal said it amounted to Assad's closest ally dropping its insistence on him remaining in office.

But Assad's enemies say a new election would keep him in power unless other steps were taken to remove him.

His government held an election as recently as last year, which he easily won. His opponents have always rejected any proposal for a transition unless he is removed.

Iranian officials attended international peace talks on Syria for the first time on Friday in Vienna, a month after the balance of power in the 4-year-old civil war shifted in Assad's favor with Russia launching air strikes against his foes.

iloubnan.info A Christian spiritual summit convened yesterday as a conclusion to the Syriac Catholic Bishops Synod, which was held at the Patriarchal …

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese customs officials discovered 230 kg of Captagon amphetamine pills hidden inside tables prepared for export to the Gulf state of Qatar from Beirut international airport, the finance ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The ministry, which oversees the customs department, provided photos of the white pills crammed inside table beams and said 1.5 million in total were discovered late on Thursday.

There were no immediate details on who had been trying to transport them, but the statement said an investigation into the smuggling attempt was continuing.

The drugs bust comes days after Lebanese authorities detained five Saudi citizens at the airport after finding two tons of the same drug abroad a private jet bound for the Gulf kingdom.

Khazen History

Historical Feature:
Churches and Monasteries of the Khazen family