Aala kad al shawk - Le Voyage immobile

As Far As Yearning

Forum Expanded 2018

A yearning in an unsettled space that, once, was shared and breathed by two cineastes, living in two different cities, trying to sustain their longing through each other’s scattered images, sounds, and monologues, pieced together in one film, one dialogue, one soul flown away by loneliness and fallen apart like a forsaken angel.
Aala kad al shawk - Le Voyage immobile (or As Far as Yearning) is that dialogue-in-progress taking the shape of a film composed by sound, performed by words, perforated by images still in motion. Ghassan Salhab and Mohamed Soueid are embracing a sense of survival. This film is a sixth sense they nurtured in a world that has become faceless. Their film essay is a personal attempt to be two in one. Disguised as men, they walk among men who left behind their shadows.

by Mohamed Soueid, Ghassan Salhab Lebanon / France 2017 Arabic, French 23’ Colour World premiere | Documentary form

Crew

Directors	Mohamed Soueid, Ghassan Salhab
Cinematography	Mohamed Soueid, Ghassan Salhab
Editing	Ghassan Salhab, Carine Doumit
Music	Modelselektor, J-Dilla, Om Kalsoum, Heidika, N. Simone
Sound Design	Ghassan Salhab
Sound Mixing	Rana Eid
Sound	Mohamed Soueid, Ghassan Salhab
Producers	Mohamed Soueid, Ghassan Salhab

Produced by

Mohamed Soueid

Ghassan Salhab

Photos

Mohamed Soueid

Mohamed Soueid, born in 1959 in Beirut, Lebanon, is a writer, director, and producer. He is currently the head of the documentary department at Al Arabiya News Channel. He has directed several films and written three books: “Postponed Cinema - Lebanese Films During the Civil War” (1986); “O Heart - A Film Autobiography On The Late Movie Theatres Of Old Beirut” (1996), and the novel “Cabaret Souad” (2004).

Filmography

1998 Tango of Yearning 2000 Nightfall 2002 Civil War 2007 The Sky Is Not Always Above 2008 My Heart Beats Only For Her 2009 How Bitter My Sweet 2011 A Spell of Absence 2013 Hanging Dates Under Aleppo’s Citadel 2017 Aala kad al shawk - Le Voyage immobile

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018

Ghassan Salhab

Born in 1958 in Dakar, Senegal. In addition to making his own films, he collaborates on screenplays and also teaches film in Lebanon. In 2012, he published his first anthology, Fragments du livre du naufrage.

Filmography

1986 La clef; 15 min. 1991 Après la mort; 21 min. · L’autre; 10 min. 1994 Afrique fantôme; 21 min. 1998 Beyrouth fantôme; 116 min. 1999 De la séduction; 32 min., co-directed with N. Khoder 2000 La rose de personne; 10 min. · Baalbeck; 56 min., co-directed with Akram Zaatari, Mohamed Soueid 2002 Terra incognita; 120 min. 2003 Mon corps vivant, mon corps mort; 14 min. 2004 Narcisse perdu; 15 min. 2005 Brêve rencontre avec Jean-Luc Godard, ou le cinéma comme métaphore; 40 min. 2006 Le dernier homme (The Last Man); 101 min. · Temps mort; 7 min. 2007 (Posthume); 28 min. 2009 1958; 66 min. 2011 La montagne (The Mountain); 80 min. 2015 Al-wadi (The Valley); 134 min., Forum 2015 2016 L’encre de Chine (Chinese Ink); 55 min. 2017 Aala kad al shawk – Le voyage immobile (As Far as Yearning); 23 min., co-directed with Mohamed Soueid, Forum Expanded 2018 2019 Une rose ouverte (Warda)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019