STATE OF AGITATION

Feature / Post-production

Lebanon \ Arabic \ 75 minutes

Director: Elie Khalife
Producers: Elie Khalife, Mahmoud Korek, Nicolas Khabbaz, Antoine Khalife
Production Company: Taxi Films, The Post Office, Sunnyland Film

Synopsis

Living in Beirut adjacent to a highway ramp, a highly enthusiastic filmmaker is in a state of hyper inspiration characterized by an overflow of contrasting ideas. As a consequence, his characters will go through compelling and extraordinary circumstances. To clear his mind, he heads north where a screening of his short films is scheduled in a rural public school. A series of encounters along the way will turn his world upside down.

Elie Khalife

Elie Khalife studied cinema at the Geneva University of Art and Design (ESAV-HEAD). He wrote and co-directed with Alexandre Monnier two multi-award winning short films, “Taxi Service” (1996), “Merci Natex” (1998), and a medium length film “Yanoosak” (2010). Elie Khalife teaches filmmaking in many Lebanese Universities such as (ALBA), (NDU) and (USEK) and follows up on graduation projects and many cinema workshops. He is the director of “Yalla Aabelkon” (single-married-divorced) (100min) the successful Lebanese comedy of 2015. He is currently working on the post production of his new feature “State of Agitation’

Antoine Khalife

Antoine Khalife is a «Special advisor» at the Cairo-based broadcasting corporation ART, and is the associate producer of many films and co-productions between Lebanon, Egypt and France such as “Capharnaum”, “Where do we go now” by Nadine Labaki, “All this Victory” by Ahmad Ghossein, “Beirut Hold’em” by Michel Kammoun, “By Chance” by Bassem Christo,  “State of Agitation” by Elie Khalife, “Mahbas” by Sophie Boutros.
In addition to his work with ART, Antoine contributed to the success of the Dubai Film Festival and the Dubai Film Connection (DFC), which is a feature and documentary co-production market, launched in 2007. DFC’s aim was to put Arab filmmakers in the spotlight as well as support and stimulate the growth of film production in the Middle East.
Khalife is also an advisor to many festivals, such as Beirut Cinema Days, the Rotterdam International Film Festival in Holland and the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada.
Antoine just joined the team of the Red Sea International Film Festival which will take place in Jeddah in March 2020, as the director of the Arab Program at this new festival.

Nicolas Khabbaz

Nicolas Khabbaz holds a Ph.D. in cinema and is the program director of the NDU International Film Festival and the Batroun Mediterranean Film Festival. Since 2012, Khabbaz has been the Director of the Audiovisual Arts Department at Notre Dame University – Lebanon (NDU). He produced and wrote his first feature film “VOID” in 2013 and produced several award-winning short films. “BARAKAT” (2019, also directed by Manon Nammour) is his newest production.

Mahmoud Korek

Mahmoud Korek founded the Postoffice with Ghada Oueidat, in Beirut in 1998, a post-production, special effects and animation company. The personal dedication of the founders has qualified the Postoffice to produce and co-produce many independent film projects in Lebanon and Syria.