Philippe Aractingi
Philippe Aractingi (فيليب عرقتنجي) (born in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Franco-Lebanese author, director, producer, actor and photographer.
In 2005, after returning to Lebanon, Philippe Aractingi produced and directed his first feature film Bosta, a groundbreaking post-war Lebanese musical.
In 2014, Philippe Aractingi ventured into autobiography with Heritages, a revamped documentary with a hint of fiction that recounts the various exiles that he and his family had to go through over the past 4 generations, summing up to 100 years of history.
Experimenting with a radical new film-making style, he interlaces directed scenes and archive images with video-filmed personal diaries, family photos and super 8 reels.
Listen tells the story of a sound engineer who meets and falls in love with a strong and free-spirited girl, who suddenly slips away in a coma.
Aractingi has also made significant cultural contributions, offering consulting services and producing museum and tourist films on commission for diverse organizations worldwide.
In 2023, Philippe made his foray into the world of theater with his debut production, Sar Waet El Haki (Let's talk, it's about time), written and performed by himself and directed by Lina Abyad.
In this autobiographical solo-show, Philippe Aractingi loses himself in thought for a moment, meditating on the path that has led him to make so many films, he who, in his youth, had difficulties to speak.
Intense quest of expression, this groundbreaking play seamlessly weaves together projected films on fragmented screens, audio narratives, music, and occasional dance to delve into the profound themes of language and identity.
In 2010, he finally decided to get back behind the camera and developed a series for an exhibition in Paris, “Nuit sur Beyrouth”, displaying a wide array of shots of Beirut by night.
Aractingi roamed the streets of Dubai, Paris, Cannes and Beirut, armed with a disposable camera, to capture snapshots of women's legs, unknown, fleeting beauties.
Adopting a musical form and a light tone, Philippe Aractingi tackles difficult themes such as reconciliation with the past, tolerance between religions, the relationship with the father, homosexuality and the position of women in Lebanese society.
In the middle of a divorce, she decides to send her son Karim to stay with her sister in a small village in the South of Lebanon, to spare him his parents' fighting.
Despite living in a doomed country that hangs by a thread, Joud, a handsome and shy 24 year old 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.
