Gate #5 | الحوض الخامس

Directed by Simon El Habre

Lebanon, U.A.E. - 2012 - 84' - In Arabic with English subtitles

Scenario:: Simon El Habre
Cinematography:: Bassem Fayad
Editing:: Carine Doumit
Music:: Cynthia Zaven
Produced by :: Abbout Productions (Georges Schoucair)

Synopsis

They were young, loved adventures and had choices. In the 1960s and 70s thousands of young Lebanese left their villages and searched for a new life in the city.

The port of Beirut, the city’s economic lung and central urban district, provided work for truck drivers. The income allowed the young men to participate in the vibrant urban life, to enjoy their time at the always busy Burj Square with its many cinemas and restaurants as well as to start families.

After the war ended the once popular Burj Square, the city’s centre, was demolished, privatized and rebuild for the affluent. Lebanese economy was reorganized, thus globalized. The truck drivers’ universe shrunk to the port where they offer their skills as day laborers now. Yet mostly they kill time and take long journeys in memory. One of them is my father. Najm El Habre is too sick to join his friends. He found a different way to carry on.

NOW ON DVD

Trailer

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Director's biography

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Simon El Habre was born in Beirut. In 1998 he obtained his Diploma in Audiovisual Directing from Academie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA) and graduated from Femis (Paris) in Film and Video Editing in 2000. Since 2001 he is teaching Video and Visual Expression as well as Film and Video Editing in ALBA. He directed a large number of commercials and TV-reportages, mainly for Arab satellite channels MBC, al-Arabia, and al-Jazeera and edited award winning short and documentary films. Simon El Habre is an acclaimed editor in Lebanon and worked, among others, with
Ghassan Salhab on his video POSTHUMUS (2007) and his feature film “1958 (SELF PORTRAIT OF YESTERDAY)” (2009).
Simon El Habre is member in the cultural association for the development of cinema, BeirutDC.