Project Summary

Hisham Bizri introduced his upcoming feature film Until Morning, which at the time of March Meeting 2011 existed as a completed script. The film took two years to write and Bizri describes it as a homage to Hollywood studio films of the ’40s, in which everything was reconstructed and controlled. As a taster, Bizri screened his short film A Film (2010) at the meeting, which he shot in Cinecittà in Rome.

Presentation Proposal

Until Morning constructs a kaleidoscopic view of the intersecting lives of several Beirutis over the course of a single day, 23 December 2011. A well-to-do couple struggle with the memory of their young son’s tragic death. A disaffected and out-of-work photo-essayist tries to find a way to make a life for himself and his fiancé. A young mechanic pawns his wife’s jewellery to place a risky bet at the racetrack. As their paths cross and stories intertwine, the characters are finally able to confront the things they could never face alone. The characters move in confined circles amongst the strife and trauma that populates their daily existence. Yet Until Morning is not about the components of misery, but about how resilient, essentially good people negotiate such misery and make the best lives possible for themselves. Until Morning is a tale of struggle, recovery, and rebirth.

Speaker

Hisham Bizri (b. Lebanon) made his first super-8 films in the United States in 1987, followed by several films and videos that have been shown internationally, including at MoMA, the Louvre Museum, the Reina Sofia, Cinémathèque Française, and the Anthology Film Archives in New York. His films have won the Jerome, McKnight, Rockefeller and Guggenheim awards and the American Academy of Rome Prize. In 1990 he worked with producer James Shamus for Raul Ruiz’s feature film The Golden Boat. In 2000 he formed his own production company, Muqarnas Films, producing a dozen of his short films. In 2004 Bizri co-founded the Arab Institute of Film (Jordan) together with the Danish Film Institute and other Arab filmmakers. He is a Professor of Filmmaking at the University of Minnesota.

December 2011

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