The European Leadership and Debate Academy (Elda) organized in Beirut an award ceremony to honor successful Lebanese filmmakers who collaborated with social activists and local NGOs to produce videos promoting social issues of their choice. The project was funded by The German Federal Foreign Office, in collaboration with She Dares By Sabine, Beirut Film Society, Injaz Lebanon and Mentell with the presence of Mr. Christian Stahl, Founder of Elda.
A Bootcamp was organized 5 days prior to the main event in Smallville Hotel in Badaro.
10 projects and team finalists attended the event and competed for cash rewards. Among the topics tackled were: the pain of Love, war injustice justice, disability in vulnerable society, immigration, nostalgia, sex taboos and education and the imagination of kids. The 3 most promising film concepts were:
First Prize: Condom Hunter / Marc Basset and Shadi Rabahi
Second Prize: Dad, I Want Peace With The Enemy / Nour Alhoda Wissam Fakih, Batoul Ezaldeen, Ghadir Alashi and Dania Alraee
Third Prize: Change 2 Change / Myriam Saadé, Rayssa El Borgi, Cosette Dib and Samir El Kawas
Stahl mentioned in his speech: “Our team had the great opportunity to work with nearly 100 young Lebanese talents. It was obvious to me that this generation values peace over hate, love over war, tolerance over tradition and stands up for equal rights.” And he announced that elda still has many future new projects in the pipeline.
Ms. Sabine Abi Aad (@SheDaresBySabine) one of the program partners stated: “Youth are always aiming for change. They are constantly seeking new opportunities to make a difference. And our job is to empower them and present them the tools to make the change we couldn’t create”.
Sam Lahoud, Founder and Chair of Beirut Film Society, stressed on the importance of this initiative and on the necessity of strengthening partnership between Lebanese and International organizations to empower youth. He addressed the participants asking them to stay positive and to turn the competition between each other to cooperation, enabling them to create a better future.
Then 2 special awards were also presented to 2 projects:
Bulldozer / Mira Sidawi
Jawa / Emile Bou Diwan