October 10th, 2016 Beirut, Lebanon – Beirut-based video streaming platform M (m.media), along with its sister company Mercury Content, has announced the next original Ziad Rahbani play to be released as a film: Film Ameriki Tawil. As part of a collaboration between M (m.media), Mercury Content and the artist, the 1980 play was turned into a film following the cleaning up and selection of original footage from several performances, which Ziad’s sister, the late Layal Rahbani, had filmed using a “Super 8” camera. The rushes spent two years abroad for intensive restoration by specialists, before returning to Beirut for the remaining editing efforts. The cleanup process proved to be delicate, since the 36-year old footage was initially an internal tool to help the crew during rehearsals. The result is a 100-minute film with archival properties, which assures to stir Lebanon’s collective memory. In this respect, Film Ameriki Tawil includes some minor glitches, but it is a major improvement in picture and sound – now with the 5.1 enhanced surround sound. The play is about seven mentally ill patients and two drug addicts in a psychiatric hospital in West Beirut during the civil war. Even amid their hysteria and unrest, the patients’ farcical statements seem to make more sense than those of the medical staff. And still, they undergo various treatments meant to drug or brainwash them into compliance with the status quo. Film Ameriki Tawil is one of Ziad’s most acclaimed and astute works, winning over Lebanese listeners from all sorts of backgrounds, sects, and ideologies. Every character represents a different mindset stemming from the civil war, and as the story unfolds, the public is invited to question the social norms and general feelings that were established at that time – and that live on to this day. The project is particularly exciting for M (m.media), as it will be another breakthrough in its online compilation of films, plays and documentaries, Effectively, it fits the company’s efforts in curating and producing relevant alternative content from or about Lebanon and the Middle East. The film will be out in all major cinemas across Lebanon starting October 20, 2016. In later stages, Film Ameriki Tawil, along with Bennesbeh Labokra, Chou? and all upcoming original productions, will be available to watch for subscribers on: www.m.media Film Ameriki Tawil Official Trailer: https://m.media/en/Films/VID-000778
M (m.media) announces the release of Ziad Rahbani’s second play-turned-film, Film Ameriki Tawil
