Celebrating art and freedom of speech
The Daily Star
BEIRUT: A group of six glowing figures light up Samir Kassir Square. Their hollow forms symbolize the loss felt by refugees who leave behind homes, belongings, friends and family when they are forced to flee their cities. The installation by Lebanese artist Alaa Minawi was set up in the balmy garden Monday night, scheduled to remain on show to the public until June 4, as part of the annual Samir Kassir Festival.A tribute to Syrian refugees in Lebanon and all the refugees displaced from their homes over the last century, the installation is entitled “My light is your light…” and was first shown in November as part of the Amsterdam Light Festival.
The figures, outlined in neon tubing, represent a family unit made up of a father, a mother, a grandfather, an aunt and two children.
Each year, the Samir Kassir Foundation organizes its Beirut Spring Festival, a tribute to the journalist and history professor assassinated in 2005. Consisting of a week of free events, it promotes tolerance and cultural diversity through multidisciplinary international performances, including theater, dance, music and conferences.
This year, to mark a decade since Kassir’s assassination, the festival has been extended to just over a month, running until June 6. The focus has also shifted, from theater and music performances to panel discussions and forums.
This year’s program is composed of a diverse series of events related to Samir Kassir’s interests, focusing on politics and history, as well as culture.
Topics range from defending press freedom, to freedom of information and privacy, Palestine and shifting pan-Arab priorities, Syrian refugees in Europe, democracy and religion, and politics and the military.
Culturally focused events will include a talk on wartime cultural production, an exhibition of photos capturing a single day in Beirut, several film screenings and a grand finale featuring a multidisciplinary open air performance.
Tuesday evening promises a talk entitled “Healing Memories and Building the Future” at Université Saint Joseph.
The discussion will focus on how mechanisms can be put in place to deal with collective memory and enable societies to move forward after conflict, drawing from approaches taken in Spain, Chile and Northern Ireland, while addressing the ramifications of Lebanon’s policy of amnesty and collective amnesia.
Speakers are set to include Ziad Baroud, a former Lebanon interior minister, as well as Josefina Cuesta Bustillo from the University of Salamanca, Luciano Fouillioux from Chile’s Museum of Memory and the National Institution of Human Rights, former deputy-speaker of the Northern Irish Parliament Jane Morris. The event will be moderated by Carmen Abou Jaoude from Lebanon’s International Center for Transitional Justice.
The highlights of this edition’s culture-related events include a talk at Dawawine in Gemmayzeh on May 8, entitled “Culture amid War: The Syrian Experiment.” Ali Atassi, of the Beirut-based Syrian filmmaking collective Bidayat, Lebanese political analyst Ziad Majed and Creative Memory founder Sana Yaziji will discuss cultural production since the onset of the civil war. SHARQ’s Reem Maghribi will moderate.
Dwelling on the importance of culture in wartime, their talk will focus on what the work being produced by Syrian artists says about history, suffering and hope for a peaceful future.
On May 9, prominent filmmakers and writers will pay tribute to Kassir.
A series of short documentaries will be screened at the French Institute, each shedding light on his vision, career, personal life and values. Two works broadcast in the months after his death, Gretta Nawfal’s “Tulipe Noire” and Talal Khoury’s “Monday,” will screen alongside the world premiere of a film by Kassir’s daughter Liana.
“One Day in Beirut” will encapsulate the diversity of the city from May 14 to June 4. Organized by FRAME, a photo exhibition at the Beirut Souks will display the work of more than 100 photographers.
Each photographer was given 12 hours to capture 12 photos on 12 themes on Sept. 27 last year, during the second edition of the Beirut Photo Marathon. Taken all over greater Beirut, the resulting photos showcase daily life in different quarters of the city.
Université Saint Joseph will host a film screening and discussion on May 28. Jacques Debs’ film “A la rencontre des Eglises Premières” (In search of the first churches) takes viewers on a tour of the world’s oldest churches, evangelized by the 12 apostles.
Each is located at a crossroads between cultures and, against all the odds, has survived for millennia. The screening will be followed by a talk featuring the filmmaker and Lebanese cultural figures.
The grand finale on June 6 is set to provide a memorable close this year’s edition.
A multidisciplinary light show and live performance in Martyrs’ Square will transform the facade of the An-Nahar building with glitzy projections of light and thousands of images celebrating Beirut and Kassir’s legacy.
Lebanese, regional and international artists are set to perform live music and theater as part of the show, conceived by Ivan Caracalla, president of Caracalla Dance Theater. – The Daily Star
The Beirut Spring Festival continues at locations across Beirut until June 6. To see the full program, please visit www.beirutspringfestival.org.
Source: www.dailystar.com.lb