Ghassan salhab biography

With precision and a dreamy quality, Ghassan Salhab’s film and video projects examine life in and around Beirut – a city that has been destroyed and rebuilt seven times. With powerful soundtracks and intense imagery, Ghassan Salhab’s films pose questions about “the status of art during times marked by war and terror” (from the Berlinale catalogue, 2015) and the central premises underlining human society.

Salhab is considered one of Lebanon’s most important directors. He was born in 1958 to Lebanese parents living in Senegal. In addition to the six feature films he has directed to date, he has also created a number of short films and videos. His films have been screened at the most important festivals around the world, from the Berlinale to Cannes, and in Marseille, Tribeca, and Locarno. Since 1986, he has written screenplays for many French and Lebanese films. He also teaches film at various universities and other institutions in Lebanon and other Arab countries. For the film “Baalbeck” (2000, video, 25‘), Ghassan Salhab collaborated with another guest of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, Akram Zaatari, who was a guest in 2010. He has published texts and articles in various magazines, while a bilingual edition of his book Fragments du Livre du naufrage was published in Arabic and French in 2012. In 2002, Salhab left France to return to Lebanon.
Ghassan Salhab has won many prizes around the world for his work: He has been honored as best director from the Arabic world at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival for “La Vallée” in 2014; “Le Dernier Homme” was awarded the prize for best actor in a leading role at a festival in Singapore in 2006; and the film “Beyrouth Fantôme” was awarded the prize for best soundtrack at a festival in Nantes in 1998.
With concentration and a precise eye, Ghassan Salhab shows the multifaceted conditions of human society in a series of seemingly disparate microcosmoses. The civil war in Lebanon and its effects, such as fear

Born in Dakar, Ghassan Salhab now lives and works in Beirut. In addition to his own films, he collaborates in the writing of screenplays and teaches at various universities in Lebanon. He has directed eight feature films: Beirut Ghost (1998); Terra Incognita (2002); The Last Man (2006); 1958 (2009); The Mountain (2011), The Valley (2014), An Open Rose / Warda (2019) and The River (2021) - as well as several "essays", including The Motionless Journey (2018) co-directed with Mohamed Soueid, Chinese Ink (2016), His Image (diptych-video, 2016), Everybody know this is nowhere (diptych-video, 2012), Le massacre des innocents (triptych-video, 2010), (Posthumous) (2007), Narcissus lost (2004), My dead body, my living body (2003), La rose de personne (2000) ... all selected in various international festivals or exhibitions. In 2016, he was "guest-in-residence" at the DAAD (Berlin) and in 2020 at the Camargo Foundation. The International Festival of La Rochelle, the JCC of Tunis, the Cinémathèque du Québec and the Festival International de Cine Guanajuato, have devoted a retrospective to him. Author of two books: "fragments of the Book of the shipwreck" (2012, Amers Editions) and "against the light (from Beirut)" (2021, of the incidence publisher), as well as various texts published in specialized magazines.

biography

Born in Dakar, Senegal.
In addition to making his own films and video works, Ghassan Salhab collaborates on various scenarios, and teaches film in Lebanon. He has directed six feature films: Beyrouth Fantôme (1998); Terra Incognita (2002); The Last Man (2006); 1958 (2009); The Mountain (2011) and The Valley (2014)… All films have been selected in various international film festivals — in addition to numerous “essays”, short films and “videos… In 2010, La Rochelle International Film Festival and JC Carthage made a tribute to his films… He has also published his texts and articles in various magazines, and a book, “fragments du Livre du naufrage” (Amers Editions) in 2012.

Filmography
Writer-Director
Longs métrages
The Valley (2014, video, 2h14)
Selected by Toronto International Film Festival, Abu Dhabi Film Festival (Prize for best Arab Director), JC Carthage, Forum Berlinale 2015, Fribourg (Fipresci international critics prize), La Rochelle, Curitiba International Film Festival, Hong-Kong, Karlovy Vary… and several other Festivals
The Mountain (2011, video, 1h24)
Selected by Doha Film Festival 2010, FID Marseille 2011, Toronto International Film Festival 2011, Nowe Horizonty Wroclaw… and several other Festivals
1958 (2009, video, 1h06)
Selected by FID Marseille, Locarno International Film Festival, MEIFF, Dox Box, International Istanbul Film Festival… and several other Festivals
Le dernier homme / The last man (2006, 35mm, 1h41)
Selected by Locarno International Film Festival 2006, Montpellier, Torino, Dubaï Film Festival, Singapore 2007 (Prize for best actor Carlos Chahine), Tribeca Film Festival 2007, « Tous les Cinémas du Monde » - Cannes 2007… and several other Festivals
Terra incognita (2002, 35mm, 2h)
Selected by Sélection officielle Cannes / « Un Certain Regard », Viennale, Göteborg International Film Festival, La Rochelle, JC Carthage… and several other Festivals
Beyrouth fantôme (1998, 35mm, 1h56)
Selected by Les Tro

Lebanese screenwriter and film director (born 1958)

Ghassan Salhab (Arabic; غسان سلهب, born 4 May 1958) is a Lebanesescreenwriter and film director born in Dakar, Senegal. In addition to making his own films, he collaborates on various scenarios and teaches film in Lebanon. He has directed six feature films; Beyrouth Fantôme, Terra Incognita, The Last Man, 1958, The Mountain and The Valley. His films have been selected in various international film festivals. He has finished the shooting of The River, in addition to numerous “essays” and different “video works” including "Posthumous," "Chinese Ink," "Son Image," and Le voyage Immobile," on which he collaborated with Lebanese documentary filmmaker Mohamed Soueid.

In 2016, he was a DAAD (Berlin) guest-resident. La Rochelle International Film Festival, JC Carthage and La Cinémathèque du Québec made a tribute to his work. He has also published different texts and articles in various magazines and a book, “fragments du Livre du naufrage”.

Filmography

Feature films

Other works