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Creator of West Beirut and Lila Dit Ca, Ziad Doueiri is one of the founders of modern Lebanese film. Just don’t use that term around him.

Was ‘West Beirut’ made to change Lebanon?

Asking an artist to make a change is quite a burden. People always ask me: ‘what do you intend to do with your film?’ It’s too much of a burden. All you can do is hope that it’ll influence some people. The first priority is to express yourself and that’ll have its effects, both positive and negative, around you. It’s not our job to do that. Just be true to yourself, be good at what you do and then you’ll influence people, through pure and simple honesty. Work from your gut, not from your head, and you’ll affect people in the same way.

But the movie did start something big…

I’m aware that something was started in ’98 when there was no precedent. The scene was empty and we created something of a rebellious film. It still is something of a rebellious film. I remember though, that I didn’t even expect it to be released when I wrote it. I figured it would be an arthouse movie, maybe a video. I thought that 500 people would watch it, maybe a 1000, but I never expected the incredible turnout.

Way off the mark on that one…

Tell me about it. When the film was out and the people from Cannes came I figured they’d say: ‘good job and come again.’ I never thought it would work that well and if it did, I never thought it would be viewed in Lebanon. People here weren’t interested in making it. When it came out, something happened, something of a quick chemistry or a spark – the right topic, in the right place at the right time. And there we were, it was sold all over the world.

That must’ve been thrilling?

I’m not going to be falsely humble; I’m very happy it sold well. I’m very happy with what it did and the shadow it left. It came at a time when the chemistry was there to be found and it just dragged people in. It was spontaneous and unpredictable, unlike the Lebanese films of its time. Perhaps my absence from Lebanon made the film fresh ten years ago and gave me a fresh outlook on a tired topic.

It was very different. It still is…

It is, it talked about a very important phase of the war without getting too melodramatic. Here I figured: ‘Well, OK, the people that like it are my generation.’ But soon I discovered that 15 year-olds were my biggest fans. They wanted to know about the war, about sex and the older generation. It developed their curiosity. Curiously enough, the larger part of my audience was Christian.

Why is that do you think?

East Beirut was a foreign land to us and before I knew any better I grew up hating the Christian area. I think the Christians at the time were curious about us Muslims in the west, what we thought, how we felt. This movie offered them a peak into the west Beirut life. Christians tend to be more culturally oriented – although people might hate me for saying that. I’m not saying they’re better, there’s just a tendency to be more culturally active. I’ll tell you, my family, for instance, is a family of doctors, lawyers, engineers – not a single person ended up in arts but who can say what’s better.

To the detriment of Lebanese cinema I’m sure…

I don’t think there is a Lebanese cinema. Without funding and the infrastructure, you can’t have a national cinema. Talent without financing and infrastructure is useless, you need the whole machine to support your talent. Movie making is not like painting; you can’t lock yourself in a room and make a movie. There’s a massive machine in play and we have none of it here. Lebanese cinema is embryonic and we’re all struggling.

Even you, a success story?

Even me. I’ve had a script on hand for a long time for instance and just now managed to get financing from Universal Studios.

Can’t you find local financing?

No, never. Everything I’ve done was financed by internationals. ‘West Beirut’ and ‘Lila Dit Ca’ were both purely financed from France. I heard that Caramel was partly financed by ART and Bosta partly financed by LBC, but all that means is half a million bucks maybe. A film needs at least twice that much.

Why don’t locals support your work?

I’m controversial and no one around here wants to touch controversial topics. I have a film coming up called The Attack. If this goes through, it’ll be the first Middle Eastern film with a completely Arabic cast to be financed by the United States.

But still you’ve made a living…

I’ve lived off this for a long time. But I have 23 awards and I’m struggling. This is fine but I should not have to struggle at this point, it just doesn’t make sense.

Well, what is this new film anyway?

The Attack? It’s about a Palestinian doctor who gets famous in Israel and one day find out that his wife committed a suicide attack. He never saw it coming. A wife who received everything she could want, blows herself up. Why? He goes on a journey to find out and endures a lot of self discovery along the way.

So what’s your favorite place in Lebanon?

The restaurant down the road, right now. It’s called Michael Louis Aoun, a small cantina run by an old couple for the past 50 years. The man inherited it from his father. It’s homemade food and you sit and eat for LL10,000. This is Lebanon, this is Beirut; not the big fancy places. These places are inspiring.

And speaking of our favorite city…

Beirut is the most eccentric place I know. The Lebanese man is very eccentric and egocentric and he acts upon it. He’s the most generous, friendly, lying, cheating, loving paradox on earth. I love it, I hate it, I want it built and I sometimes I want it blown away. I love it and hate it at the same time, equally.