A movie still of Tramontane (Rabih). Courtesy DIFF
A movie still of Tramontane (Rabih). Courtesy DIFF

Diff: Tramontane director Vatche Boulghourjian says film is full of metaphors about modern Lebanon



There is an uncanny resemblance between Tramontane director Vatche Boulghourjian and tennis star Boris Becker. "Noone has said that to me for a while!" the first-time feature film director explains. "But I used to get that all the time."

Well just as Becker burst onto the scene by winning his first Wimbledon, Boulghourjian has made an ace with his own first feature film. Tramontane is a story about the past coming back to haunt you and arrives at DIFF after its world premiere at the Cannes film festival.

Young blind musician Rabih (Barakat Jabbour, who himself is a blind violinist and singer) must get a passport so he can travel with his Lebanese choir to play in Europe. Rabih is informed that his identity papers are false. From there his life unravels as he discovers his mother (Julia Kassar) is not who he thought she was, and how his own past is tied to the Lebanese civil war.

“One of the inspirations of this film is a theologian called Professor John Hull,” says the 40-year-old director. “He lost his sight and wrote about what it’s like to be blind and how blindness affected his relationships to others around him and his memory.”

“In one paper he talks about how blindness is commonly misused in literature to describe how someone is morally misled or in denial, so we come to this film where we have a blind man who has more clarity of mind and a goal to search for a truth. Even though he has a physical handicap those around him have a spiritual handicap.”

Boulghourjian's own past as a documentarian comes through in the Tramontane's realist aesthetic. The film includes many metaphors about life in Lebanon today, one of which is the importance of a passport: "It is a form of identification issued by a government that gives you your right to belong to an administrative space," says Boulghourjian. "It's about how this administrative crisis turns into an existential crisis, somehow."

Tramontane is showing at Souk Madinat Arena on December 9 at 8.15pm and Vox Cinemas at Mall of the Emirates on December 10 at 2.45pm

For details go to www.dubaifilmfest.com

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World Cup final

Who: France v Croatia
When: Sunday, July 15, 7pm (UAE)
TV: Game will be shown live on BeIN Sports for viewers in the Mena region

England v South Africa Test series:

First Test: at Lord's, England won by 211 runs

Second Test: at Trent Bridge, South Africa won by 340 runs

Third Test: at The Oval, July 27-31

Fourth Test: at Old Trafford, August 4-8

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Plan to boost public schools

A major shake-up of government-run schools was rolled out across the country in 2017. Known as the Emirati School Model, it placed more emphasis on maths and science while also adding practical skills to the curriculum.

It was accompanied by the promise of a Dh5 billion investment, over six years, to pay for state-of-the-art infrastructure improvements.

Aspects of the school model will be extended to international private schools, the education minister has previously suggested.

Recent developments have also included the introduction of moral education - which public and private schools both must teach - along with reform of the exams system and tougher teacher licensing requirements.

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Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?

Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.

They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.

“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.

He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.

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Jigra
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