NEW FEATURES Thursday, July 13 1PM | WOH Sunday, July 16 12PM | MFC 1
North American Premiere
ANXIOUS IN BEIRUT Lebanon 2023 - DCP - 93 minutes, in Lebanese with English subtitles Director: Zakaria Jaber Producer: Jumana Saadeh Print Courtesy: Filmotor A very personal film that effortlessly yet brilliantly reaches the universal, Anxious in Beirut is a quiet astonishment. Young, self-taught Lebanese filmmaker Zakaria Jaber surveys the turmoil in his native city, a maelstrom of explosions, possible revolution, post-war trauma, and recurrent emergencies, and contemplates escape and emigration to a less troubled spot. And yet…Beirut and Lebanon are beautiful, powerful, and home. Jaber is aware that he is hardly the first to feel anxious in his homeland; witness the waves of past Lebanese immigration over time (including Waterville’s large Lebanese community, many of whose forebears fled Turkish invasions over 100 years ago.) But Jaber brings a vitality, an honesty, and an open eye to his personal narrative that engages us immediately and never lets go. —KE Sponsored by Mid-Maine Global Forum
Tuesday, July 11 1PM | WOH Thursday, July 13 6:40PM | MFC 2
Maine Premiere
AURORA’S SUNRISE Armenia 2022 - DCP - 96 minutes, in Armenian, Turkish, Kurdish, and German with English subtitles Director: Inna Sahakyan Screenplay: Peter Liakhov, Kerstin Meyer-Beetz, Inna Sahakyan Producers: Christian Beetz, Kestutis Drazdauskas, Eric Esrailian, Vardan Hovhannisyan, Juste Michailinaite, Inna Sahakyan Cast: Anzhelika Hakobyan, Arpi Petrossian Print Courtesy: Venera Films Animation? To deal with a holocaust? It works amazingly well in Aurora’s Sunrise, and perhaps better than any other way could. Based on true personal as well as political stories, Aurora’s Sunrise mixes animation with actual footage of Aurora in the early, silent films in which she starred. At the age of 14, Aurora lost everything during the horror of the Armenian genocide. Two years later, through luck and extraordinary courage, she escaped to New York, where her story became a media sensation. Starring as herself in Auction of Souls, an early Hollywood blockbuster, Aurora became the face of one of the largest charity campaigns in American history. With a blend of vivid animation, interviews with Aurora herself, and 18 minutes of surviving footage from her lost silent epic, Aurora’s Sunrise revives a forgotten story of survival—and enchants and amazes. —KE
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Maine International Film Festival 2023 MIFF.ORG