28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival

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I Crossed the Hallway
I Crossed the Hallway
I Crossed the Hallway
I Crossed the Hallway

I Crossed the Hallway

director: Rabih El-Amine
original title: aijtazat almmar
country: Lebanon
year: 2017
running time: 38 min.

synopsis

A personal probe deep into the memories of a death. During the night, the director lost his father at his family home. He crossed the hallway, entered his parents’ bedroom, and his mother said, “Your father is dying.” The shock of this trauma plunges El-Amine into a state of absolute apathy. He wanders blankly through the house as memories of times spent together come back to life. Painful moments alternate with stylized commentary by relatives about the events of that night. The feeling of loss is projected onto many minor details in the film. The cacophonous musical soundtrack is as deafening as grief. Once again, film becomes a tool for coming to terms with death.

“Time is no more than a constant renewal in I Crossed the Hallway. The film is a long road, a long corridor, which gives ways to either reality or dreams or souvenirs.” R. El-Amine

biography

In his films, Lebanese photographer, writer and director Rabih El-Amine (1974) experiments with space and time. He works with a non-linear narrative in which he reconstructs reality using dreams and memories. His documentary film Ahmad the Japanese (1999) looked at the fugitive Kōzō Okamoto, and his fiction film Exiled (2014) tells the story of a man who locks himself away in solitude in order to find his own identity.

more about film

director: Rabih El-Amine
cast: Rabih El-Amine, Ihab El-Amine, Wadad El-Amine, Jad El-Amine, Rachad El-Amine
producer: Rabih El-Amine
script: Rabih El-Amine
photography: Fadi Baddour
editing: Rabih El-Amine, Ayman Nahle
music: Ihab El-Amine
sound: Rabih El-Amine, Mohamad Khreizat
Ministerstvo kultury
Fond kinematografie
Creative Europe Media
Město Jihlava
Kraj Vysočina
GEMO
Česká televize
Český rozhlas
Aktuálně.cz
Respekt
Dafilms