Agora Industry Manual - 55th Thessaloniki IFF-2014 Crossroads Projects TRAMONTANE Lebanon SYNOPSIS Produced by: ABBOUT PRODUCTIONS Rabih, a young blind man, travels across rural Lebanon in search of a record of his own birth after discovering Director: Vatche Boulghourjian that his identity card is a forgery. He gradually descends into a Kafkaesque encounter with a nation unable to Scriptwriter: Vatche Boulghourjian retell his or its own narrative. Producer: Georges Schoucair Co-producers: Caroline Oliveira (REBUS FILM), Gabrielle Dumon (LE BUREAU FILMS) DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT Associate Producer: Myriam Sassine Tramontane is a personal drama about a man in crisis that reflects a crisis gripping Lebanon today. Rabih’s Budget: 501.355 Euro journey to find the truth about his origins requires him to retrace specific events from the Lebanese Civil War Secured Financing: 166.667 Euro (1975-1990). Instead of the facts he needs to solve his enigma, Rabih is told myths, visions, and outright lies; Location: Lebanon none of the people he meets can tell the truth. This is a phenomenon that has become common since the end of Looking for: International Sales, the war: to protect or exonerate oneself, the past is fabricated, distorted or altogether concealed. To this day, no Distribution, Additional funding single, official narrative of the war exists. By all accounts, the war did not end; it just took another shape. As multiple narratives have taken root to describe the same event, a crisis of narrative has fragmented Lebanon. By following Rabih’s crisis, Tramontane looks inward at a country that is on the brink of collapse and cannot face its own history. This dire reality in Lebanon today compelled me to create this project. I see Tramontane as an opportunity to create cinema that urges critical dialogue in the wake of overpowering circumstantial forces that shape borders and lives. ABBOUT PRODUCTIONS Abbout Productions produces feature films and documentaries with a distinctly Arab voice, expressing the identity of the region. Since 1998, the company has managed to bring together an important network of Arab and Lebanese artists and has produced award winning films such as A Perfect Day (2005), I Want to See (2008) and The Lebanese Rocket Society (2012) by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, The Last Man (2006) by Ghassan Salhab, Stray Bullet (2010) by Georges Hashem, Sector Zero (2011) by Nadim Mishlawi and Ladder to Damascus (2013) by Mohamad Malas. Abbout Productions has a strong partnership with MC Distribution, a distribution company dedicated to promote new films from the Middle East along with direct and priority access to the sole art house theater in Lebanon, Metropolis Cinema. The main objective remains to help structure the Lebanese and Arab cinema craft into a solid industry. PRODUCER’S CONTACT INFORMATION ABBOUT PRODUCTIONS T: +9611587824 E: [email protected] W: www.abboutproductions.com 40 Crossroads Projects 55th Thessaloniki IFF-2014 - Agora Industry Manual DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY DIRECTOR’S PROFILE Vatche Boulghourjian is a Lebanese filmmaker. He holds an The Fifth Column, medium, 2010 MFA from New York University’s Graduate Film Program, Cannes Film Festival - Official Selection, La Cinéfondation, where he was a departmental fellow. Before attending NYU, La Sélection, Third Prize Boulghourjian worked for several years throughout the Mid- Abu Dhabi Film Festival - Official Selection, dle East on documentaries for television networks while Best Student Short Film, 1st Prize also making his independent shorts, experimental films, Lebanese Film Festival - Official Selection, and documentaries. Fifth Column, Boulghourjian’s thesis Best Film, 1st Prize film at NYU, received a production grant from the Hollywood Kustendorf Film Festival - Official Selection, Foreign Press Association and in 2010 premiered at the Film Critics’ Press Award Cannes Film Festival, as part of the Cinéfondation program, Vatche Boulghourjian Present at Crossroads Doha Tribeca Film Festival - Official Selection, where it was awarded Third Prize. His films have screened Short Film Competition at festivals worldwide. Boulghourjian is currently developing his first feature Tramontane with the support of the Venice Life by the Horns, medium, 2009 Biennale College Cinema, the Doha Film Institute, the Sun- dance Institute, and the IFP. Canto, short, 2008 The previous film of the director, The Fifth Column, Ali the Iraqi, short, 2008 is available at the Agora Film Market. New York Sunshine, short, 2007 PRODUCER’S SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S PROFILE The Valley, feature, 2014 Georges Schoucair started producing features films and doc- Toronto International Film Festival - umentaries in 2005 under the banner of Abbout Productions. Contemporary World Cinema Under his management, the company succeeded to become one of the most acknowledged film production companies Ladder to Damascus, feature, 2013 in the Middle East. Over the years, Georges Schoucair worked Toronto International Film Festival - closely with a prominent network of Arab and international Contemporary World Cinema film professionals such as award winning directors (Khalil Cinemed Montpellier - Official competition Joreige, Joanna Hadjithomas, Mohammad Malas, Ghassan Dubai International Film Festival - Salhab) and distinguished international and Arab actors Muhr Arab Feature Film Section (Catherine Deneuve, Nadine Labaki, Nada Abou Farhat, Dia- Myriam Sassine, associate producer Present at Crossroads Alexandria International Film Festival - mand Bou Abboud, Takla Chamoun). His films have been Artistic Creativity Award exhibited worldwide at the most important film festivals Muscat International Film Festival - Best Arab Feature Award (Cannes, Toronto, Locarno, New York...etc.) and received vast acclaim from both critics and public. Reaching out to Middle Stable Unstable, feature, 2013 Eastern audiences, Georges established MC Distribution, an Dubai International Film Festival - entity that distributes Arab and international films through- Muhr Arab Feature Film Section out the region. In 2008, broadening his business, he took on the role of vice president of Metropolis, a unique art The Lebanese Rocket Society, doc, 2012 house cinema venture in Beirut. Toronto International Film Festival - Wavelength Section CPH-Dox - Dox Award Doha Tribeca Film Festival - Best Feature Documentary Stray Bullet, feature, 2010 41.