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The Film Lebanon Refused to Submit for an Oscar

(NOW-Lebanon) Yasmina Hatem - Lebanon refused to endorse Lebanese Director Ziad Doueiri's film "The Attack" because it wasn't shot in Lebanon and had Israeli actors in it. The film, which is based on Yasmina Khadra's French-language novel, is the story of an Arab surgeon living and working in Tel Aviv. After a bomb attack in a Jewish restaurant, the surgeon finds out his wife is the prime suspect. The Academy Awards' rules do not specify that a movie submitted to the Foreign Film category has to be about the country of origin or to be shot there. In fact, two of the three movies nominated in the category this year (Austrian film "Amour" and Canadian film "Rebelle") do not take place in the countries that submitted them. Doueiri says his choice of location was logical, as 60% of the film takes place in Israel. As for his choice of actors, he said, "I couldn't very well hire Egyptians to play Israelis. That would be ridiculous and not believable....And Palestinian and Israelis work side-by-side every day. Why do we have to be more Palestinian than the Palestinians?"
2013-03-01 00:00:00
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