Street of Death
Director, Cinematographer, Producer
(Lebanon, Germany/ 2017 / 22” / Arabic w/English subtitles)

Commissioned by The Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts - Ashkal Alwan for Video Works, with support by the Robert A. Matta Foundation, and supported by the Arab Fund for Arts & Culture. World Premiere at Berlin International Film Festival in Official Shorts Competition in February 2017, where the film was awarded the Audi Short Film Award.

In Street of Death the narrator revisits the site of his youth - a lawless slum suburb pushed up against Beirut airport, where vendettas, crime, displays of power and raucous street weddings punctuate daily life.

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On the outskirts of the city, right by the water, lies an arterial road that leads to Beirut’s international airport. Most of the houses standing there are illegal constructions, quickly erected for a life alongside the road.
Karam Ghossein, combines pictures of the neighborhood with street impressions from the present day. Past events can’t be told apart from the observations of today: a kaleidoscope of stories that take place on this highway. From the sea, to the sky and back. Thoughts on the death of friends, and not so good friends. Exceedingly concrete by contrast, are the shots and screams in the night, the ambulances. Rituals of masculinity, Fights for power and reputation that have stood the test of time, Pink wedding dresses, illegitimate children. Stories merge to become a new life.

Credits:

DIRECTOR KARAM GHOSSEIN 
NARRATOR MOUNZER BAALBAKI
EDITOR VARTAN AVAKIAN

COLORIST BELAL HIBRI
CAMERA KARAM GHOSSEIN
SOUND ENGINEER MOHAMAD SALAMEH
SOUND DESIGN GABÒR RIPLI RAMZI MADI
TALEB
PRODUCED BY KARAM GHOSSEIN and EMILY DISCHE- BECKER
POSTPRODUCTION SUPPORT LUCID POST

COMISSIONED BY THE LEBANESE ASSOCIATION FOR PLASTIC ARTS - ASHKAL ALWAN
WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE ROBERT A. MATTA FOUNDATION and SUPPORTED BY

THE ARAB FUND FOR ARTS & CULTURE - AFAC

Links:

Berlinale Shorts, Press Release: Reframing the Image, 10 Jan 2017

Review (Arabic), Street of Death, Al Modon, 11 June 2016

Arab Fund for Arts & Culture: 2016 Cinema Grantees