FARAH successfully premieres in Lebanon in the presence of its cast
24 November 2022:
Hassiba & Kenton Freiha-Oxley’sFARAH premiered successfully last Wednesday at Grand Cinemas, Verdun, Beirut.
This came ahead of its commercial release on Thursday, November 24th in its homeland in Grand Cinemas, ABC Dbayeh, ABC Ashrafieh, ABC Verdun, Grand Galaxy Cinema, Beirut Souks Cinemacity, VOX Cinemas City Center Beirut, Empire Cinemas - The Spot Choueifat, and Cine Mall.
The movie’s cast members Stephanie Atala, Majdi Machmouchi, and Youssef Boulos, along with the directors Hassiba & Kenton Freiha-Oxley, and the producer Reine Issa were present at the premiere, which was also attended by the most prominent media outlets, celebrities, influencers, and art critics.
The film is also scheduled to be released on the 1st of December in the UAE.
Recently, the film won the Best Arab Film and Best Art Direction Awards (NazirNassar and MoussaBaydoun) at the Alexandria Mediterranean Film Festival, where it competed in the Nour El-Sherif Competition for Arabic Feature Films.
FARAH also won the Best Feature Film Award (audience poll) atthe Lebanese Film Festival in Canada and received a Special 10th AnniversaryAward(jury award) at the Chelsea Film Festival in the US.
Before that, FARAH world premiered at the Beirut International Women Film Festival and screened at the San Diego Arab Film Festival.
Furthermore, FARAH received much critical acclaim, with critic Dr Khalid Ali saying, “while dealing with hard-hitting subjects such as the stigma of mental illness, the limitations of ‘drug therapy’, Big Pharma, the clever script written by Hassiba still portrays an intimate character study of a troubled family.”
The film follows Lina – a pre-med student – who is sent home to Beirut after severe nightmares ruin her life. An antidepressant named 'Xapa' – also known as 'Joy' – is then prescribed to help her recover.
However, as Lina's terrifying nightmares worsen and a link between them and her birth mother, Farah, becomes clear, she embarks on a quest to uncover a web of family secrets that will reveal a shattering truth.
Written by Hassiba Freiha – who co-directed it with Kenton Oxley – FARAH stars Stephanie Atala, Majdi Machmouchi, Freiha, and Youssef Boulos. The film is lensed by Elias Trad and edited by Marcus D'Arcy. MAD Solutions is also managing the film’s distribution in the Arab world.
Freiha is a writer and filmmaker who has worked on various short films, including TEMPERANCE, which was screened at the Middle East International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival's Short Film Corner. An independent online platform later acquired the film's distribution rights.
She also worked on the feature film CITY ISLAND with Andy Garcia and Alan Arkin and the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Chilloutproject with former vice president Al-Gore, Oscar-winning producer and philanthropist Jeff Skoll, and Oscar-winning producer Lawrence Bender.
Following these achievements, Freiha co-produced, co-directed, and starred in the short film WAHDON (ALONE), which screened at film festivals worldwide.
After acting in several short films, Freiha was hired by Twofour54 Abu Dhabi – a government-backed media services company – to join their post-production team as a booking manager. Soon after, she became the manager of the whole department. Meanwhile, shecontinued to hone her filmmaking skills and post-produced two feature films.
Kenton Oxley has carved a successful global career in the television and film industry. As a producer and CEO of his own production services company – Knockout Production Services – Kenton worked on multi-million-dollar blockbuster projects.
At the age of 20, he became the youngest-ever director for ITV and worked for media-related government companies in Abu Dhabi and Malaysia. For six years, he headed the Production & Global Trade Department at Twofour54.
Oxley also gained vast experience working on international projects such as Left Bank Pictures' STRIKE BACK, TOP GEAR, and Bollywood blockbuster BANG BANG.
