“Our dreams are many, our ambitions are great, our art is magnificent, worldly, and reaches every sad corner of the world. We’re here, and we’re here to stay”, with these words, director Nadine Labaki addressed film buffs and invited them to attend the Cabriolet Festival for short films. This invitation is part of the festival’s promotional campaign. The festival will run from June 4 till June 6 on the Gemmayze Stairs in Beirut.
Nadine Labaki was chosen to host the festival’s 13th edition as a tribute to her work, as it is customary to have a Lebanese actor or director host the festival each year. This year’s theme is Exist, and 56 short films that address the festival’s theme will be screened. They were selected from 3,000 short films that had been submitted to the organizers.
The 56 films include documentaries, cartoons, science fiction, among other genres submitted from many countries across the globe. On the festival’s first day, 19 films will be shown, including the Lebanese film The System by Fayez Bou Khater and the Italian film Dead Times by Damiano Monaco and Lucio Lionello. The documentary Aida, by Lebanese director Hanan Abi Khalil, and Scaptegoat by Ramy Yazbek will also be shown on the first day of Cabriolet.
Nadine Labaki arrived at 6 pm Tuesday with several artists and cultural center directors. The guest artists participated in virtual scenes as part of discussions in which they talked about their artistic and educational experiences under the theme Heritage and Culture - Somewhere Between Crisis and Resilience.
With the Cabriolet festival, Gemmayze will hope to regain its leading role in the culture and art scene as life returns to it again. The area was the most affected by the August 4 Beirut port explosion.
