Despite living in a doomed country that hangs by a thread, Joud, a handsome sound engineer
meets and falls in love with strong and free-spirited Rana.

The young lovers, from completely different social and religious backgrounds, are drawn closer to each other, but a drastic turn of events gets between them and Rana suddenly slips away.

As her parents forbid Joud from seeing her, the young man determined to see her again, finds new means of communicating with her by convincing Marwa, her sister, to download his voice messages and secretly play them to Rana…

BLURAY
Main Feature: 1080p High definition Widescreen 2.40:1
Special feature: 1080p high definition
Audio: Arabic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Arabic Dolby Digital 2.0
Movie Subtitles: French, English
DVD Release Date: December 2018

The film Bosta (Bus in Arabic), by popular French Lebanese filmmaker Philippe Aractingi, tells the story of seven former schoolmates who meet up again after 15 years, to drive across Lebanese regions in a rundown school bus, which they repaint and renew as a wound they are healing.

The group is trying to introduce a new blend of music in their native villages, a mix of the traditional dance, the Dabkeh, coupled with a techno beat; a mix that embodies this generation that grew up too fast. This group of friends tries to bring a modern twist to the past in a world that has lost all bearings.

The bus thus takes its passengers across Lebanon on an emotionally bumpy journey of self-discovery and re-acquaintance with the multiple identities of their country.

All Zones, PAL 16/9
Language: Arabic, French, Italian
Movie Subtitles: Arabic, French, English, Spanish
Release Date: 2007

As he flees Lebanon again in July 2006, Franco Lebanese film director Philippe Aractingi realizes that, like him, his ancestors have been fleeing wars and massacres for five generations.

In a fresco where photos, archives and home videos of his children subtly interact, he tells the story of his family’s travels through the Levant. Heritages (Mirath) is a film about exile, memory and transmission, filled with emotion and honesty.

All Zones, PAL 16/9
Language: Arabic, French, Italian
Movie Subtitles: Arabic, French, English, Spanish
Release Date: 2014

More DVDs by director:
Bosta (L'Autobus)

Despite living in a doomed country that hangs by a thread, Joud, a handsome sound engineer meets and falls in love with strong and free-spirited Rana.

The young lovers, from completely different social and religious backgrounds, are drawn closer to each other, but a drastic turn of events gets between them and Rana suddenly slips away.

As her parents forbid Joud from seeing her, the young man determined to see her again, finds new means of communicating with her by convincing Marwa, her sister, to download his voice messages and secretly play them to Rana.

All Zones, PAL
Language: Arabic
Movie Subtitles: French, English
DVD Release Date: December 2018

Zeina, a Lebanese woman living in Dubai, sends her son Karim to stay with her sister in Kherbet Selem – a village in the South of Lebanon – to save him from the bickering of the final stages of her divorce.

A few days later, war breaks out. Desperately worried, Zeina heads to Lebanon, via Turkey to find her son.

But because of the blockade, she cannot reach the port of Beirut until the day of the cease-fire. And only one taxi-driver – Tony – will take her to what is now the decimated South.

At first glance, the two are an unlikely match. Although both are originally from South Lebanon, Tony is a Christian whose brother lives in Israel, and Zeina is Shia… But what difference does it really make?

The quest for the missing child sends them on a journey through the war-ravaged South, where their experience of death and tragic loss eventually brings them together.

All Zones, PAL 16/9
Language: Arabic
Movie Subtitles: French, English
Release Date: 2006

Philippe Aractingi is compiling a collection of his early films, “Courts Métrages et Documentaires,” in which he shares, namely, Beirut of Stone and Memory: images of Beirut accompanied by Nadia Tueni’s poems (Gold Medal at the Jeux de la Francophonie, Paris and Jury’s Merit at the African and Creole Cinema Days, Montreal).

Also included are three movies which he directed for international television stations: The Dream of the Acrobat Child (France 3, B-SKYB, NDR), Grand Jury Award at the Beryte International Festival, Vol Libre (« Envoyé Spécial » France 2), Jury Award at the St Hilaire International Festival of Flight, Chemins de Femmes (« Le Jour du Seigneur » France 2), and La Vallée de Kadicha (« Faut Pas Rêver » France 3).

An entertaining compilation of 5 DVDs in a same box set comprising Bosta, Under the Bombs, Une Terre Pour un Homme, Ghassan Tueni’s last interview, 'Courts Métrages et Documentaires,' and exclusively, Through Mothers’ Eyes, an investigative 52’ documentary produced for “Envoyé Spécial,” that reveals the hidden power of those that we have always assumed to be submissive and on the sidelines. A film that remains alarmingly relevant.

All Zones, PAL

Vol Libre au Liban, 18' (1990)
I had always dreamed of flying. In 1989, as I was fleeing the war, I did a paragliding internship in France. At that time, the sport was still in its early stages. When I returned to Lebanon, I realized that flying, or living a few moments of freedom, was not exactly an easy task. This is the story of Lebanon’s first paraglider, a black comedy that I share with you in an 18-minute film.

Beyrouth de Pierre et de Mémoire, 18' (1992)
En 1991, J'ai filmé les dernières images du centre ville de Beyrouth. Les poèmes de Nadia Tueni sont venus habiller ces images. Ou l'inverse qui sait?

Chemins de Femmes, 29' (1994)
A la fin de la guerre dite civile je suis parti à la rencontre de quatre femmes qui étaient en peine recherche et qui m'ont raconté leur appartenance au christianisme.

Le Rêve de l'Enfant Acrobate, 52' (1997)
Mustafa, jeune acrobate au Maroc, cherche l'agent qui pourra le sortir de sa vie de nomade. C'est pour ses yeux pleins de rêves que j'ai choisi de faire ce film.

La Vallée de Kadicha, 12' (1991)
En 1990 alors que tous les reportages sur le Liban diffusés en France ne parlaient que de la guerre j'ai été à la recherche du dernier ermite d'Orient dans la vallée de Kadicha.

All Zones, PAL 4/3
Language: French
Movie Subtitles: Arabic

In 1991, the borders reopen in Lebanon. Between documentary and patchwork, this film addresses the issue of war and suffering through a different lens, the woman’s. And more specifically, that of the mother’s.

It reveals the hidden power of those that we have always assumed to be submissive and on the sidelines. These mothers who raised a same people, walking straight towards death.

This is the story of several women from very different religious communities. It is the story of the Druze who finds her son three years after his death, reincarnated in another village. It is the story of the Shiite who teaches her son to follow the path of conflict, and that of the Christian who must avenge her murdered son.

To see this film again today is to recognize the extent to which the ethical plurality it highlights is still of actuality.

All Zones, PAL 16/9
Language: French, English, Arabic
Movie Subtitles: French, English, Arabic
Release Date: 1991