JOCELYNE SAAB: KISS ME NOT ON THE EYES (AND LET ME SHOOT MY MOVIE)

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Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, Jocelyne Saab became a war reporter in 1975, and began directing independent documentaries in the Middle East.After more than 20 films and numerous international awards Saab moved into fiction. In 2005, living between Paris and Cairo, she directed an extremely beautiful and strong movie in Egypt, about female desire called “ Duniaدنيا- Kiss me not on the eyes”.

Starring beautiful Egyptian actress Hanan Turk, “ Dunia” had A LOT of trouble with the local censorship, before the shooting, during the shooting and after the shooting. The pressure were so intense that even the lead actress is now denying the movie (sad).

Here is the beginning of the synopsis (from Johanna Hypatia blog– warning: the complete article contains spoilers): “

The film was nominated at the Sundance International Film Festival, opened at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2006 and was screened at the Vesoul International Asian film festival 2009 during a retropective about Lebanese female directors. The following video is a (less than) 3-minute teaser of the Q&A which followed the screening in Vesoul  The whole Q&A was about 25 minutes.

I also had a few solo interviews with Jocelyne Saab during the festival. Part of them will included in a documentary that I’m now editing about the 15 th edition of the Vesoul International Asian film festival. Jocelyne Saab just finished a new movie,  " What's Going On" starring Raia Haidar,  a project which began in December 2008 was mainly shot in Beirut. Frédéric Ambroisine (Dec. 4th, 2009)