Purgatoire (Cinema that kills)
Film, 61:44, 16:9, 2023.
With Samir Abu Saeed, Hussein Al Sayyed, Samir Chamas, Sami Ghosn, Mirvat Kousa, Christiane Mallouk, Salah Tizani.
Alexis Guillier’s film looks at a deadly fire that broke out at the Beirut nightclub "Purgatory" on the set of the 1969 Lebanese movie "Kolouna Feda'iyoun" ("We are all fedayeen") by Gary Garabedian, a take on Palestinian resistance at the time. Guillier’s project delves into the complexity of the film’s context, the precariousness of Lebanese cinema, and the investigation of the accident.
Camera and sound: Fady El Nachme, editing: Théo Carrère, soundtrack and sound mixing: Voiski, interpreters: Roger Hélou - Youssef Salameh, production: Forecast.
Some film and archive materials used in "Purgatoire (Cinema that kills)" are part of the Baalbeck Studios collection and were kindly made available by UMAM Documentation and Research and digitized by Arsenal Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V.).
Other video archival material: AP, ART, British Pathé, Reuters, Sabbah Video Corp International, Télé Liban. Abboudi Bou Jawde archive, Bibliothèque Orientale - Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth, The Palestine Poster Archives.
Other archive and photo credits: Aimée Thirion, Alf Leila W Leila, Al Mawed, Al Mulhak, Al Shabaka, Le Jour, Kul Shai, L'Orient, Revue du Liban, personal archives of Sami Ghosn, Mirvat Kousa, Christiane Mallouk and Salah Tizani.
Special thanks to Alia Ibrahim, Forecast, radialsystem, Daraj, UMAM D&R, Syndicate of Lebanese Actors and Actresses and their teams. Najib Aboukhaled, Samir Abu Saeed, Hussein Al Sayyed, Bachir Al Ajam, Saleh Al Ajam, Neemeh Badawi, Nigol Bezjian, Abboudi Baw Jawde, Georges Boustany, Gregory Buchakjian, Emile Chahine, Samir Chamas, Rabih Damaj, Sami Ghosn, Nabil Haddad, Mario Haddad Sr., Mazen Haidar, Roger Hélou, Ghassan Koteit, Mirvat Kousa, Christiane Mallouk, Laurence Mazaud, Ghada Sayegh, Mohamed Soueid, Alfred Tarazi, Salah Tizani, Giovanni Vimercati, Hady Zaccak. Céline Poulin and Vernon Guillier Poulin.
© Alexis Guillier 2023
Trailer/Intro:
