Mondial

Roy Dib

This film is a discussion of institutional borders in the modern day “Middle East”. It uses video as an apparatus to transgress boundaries that are inflicted on people in spite of them. It is a travel film in a trajectory that doesn’t allow travel, starring two male lovers, in a setting where homosexuality is a punishable felony. Shot with a hand-held camcorder, Mondial 2010 borrows the aesthetics of a travel video log. It normalizes the abnormal, and by doing so creates its own universe of possibility. It is a shift from the mainstream passive view of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict that places the victim/oppressor in the forefront of the produced imagery. This video glides over this conflict with an upper hand.   Note: The relations between Israelis and Lebanese are governed by the 1943 Lebanese Criminal Code and the 1955 Lebanese Anti-Israeli Boycott Law, the former of which forbids any interaction with nationals of enemy states, and the latter of which specifies Israelis, making a trip for a Lebanese citizen to Israel (or Palestinian Territories) impossible.

مونديال 2010 يتمحور حول الحب والمكان. عاشقان من لبنان يقّرران الذهاب في رحلة بّرية إلى رام الله، وتوثيق رحلتهما من خلال التصوير بكاميرتهما، والمشاهدين مدعوون، من خلال أحاديثهما، إلىالدخول في فضاء مدينة تتلاشى.

Country: Lebanon
Time: 19'
Year: 2010