Free Range

+Paired with The Wanted 18 on 11/6
+Lebanon

Friday, 11/6 at St. Anthony Main Theatre
7:30 p.m.

Director Amer Shomali will be present at both screenings

Buy tickets >>>

Director: Bassem Bréche
Narrative short, 16 mins, 2014
Countries: Lebanon/Germany
Languages: Arabic/English
Minnesota premiere

Synopsis: Based on actual events, “Free Range” tells the story of a cow who crosses the border from Israel to Lebanon, where she meets 16-year-old Malakeh and her family. A Lebanese Spaghetti-Western of sorts, this short confronts the complex issue of borders and the power relations that exist between them. 

Bassem Bréche was born in 1978, and started his career as a theatre actor in Lebanon before moving to the UK. In 2007, his short film “Both” was selected for the Cannes International Critics’ Week, then toured over 50 international film festivals. In 2008, Bréche won the Moulin d’Andé residency in France where he finished writing his first feature film, Splits, which was accepted at the Dubai Film Connection and Montpellier Film Festival in France. He worked on the Emmy Award-winning web-drama Shankaboot and as a scriptwriter on the award-winning web-series Fasateen. In 2014, Bréche won the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung for his “Free Range.” Bréche is a lecturer at the Lebanese American University and Alba in Beirut and a well-known blogger in the Arab world.

Festivals:
Festival International du Cinéma Méditerranéen de Montpellier, France, 2014
International Short Film Festival Thessaloniki, Greece, 2014
International Film Festival Kerry, Ireland, 2014
Independent Film Days Osnabrueck, Germany, 2014
Bronx World Film Cycle, USA, 2014
AFAC Film Week Cairo, Egypt, 2014

Awards:
Price for the sensibilisation for handicap, Handifilm Rabat, Morocco, 2014
The Jury Price School at Festival of Oriental Film in Geneva, FIFOG Film Festival of Oriental Film Geneva, Switzerland, 2014

Screening with The Wanted 18