well if you insist , then i'll throw in a brief introduction of who i am and how i relate to documentary..... here it goes, brace yourselves:
i've always been in love with cinema and film ever since i was a child growing up with my grandmother and uncle who after coming back from his day job as a civil engineer would take me to an arthouse movie theatre ( sadly it's closing now ) to watch a different movie almost every day..... well this passion and love grew up as i grew older and soon enough i found myself landing my first job at the Video/DVD rental store that i frequented alot ....there i have to say i watched my first documentary , the one that made me want to upgrade my passion to becoming a vocation , an occupation , a practice.... no secret that documentary was none other than Chris Marker's "Sans Soleil" , i was 14 at the time .... ( i miss those days of being sourrounded by films me there between them, wondering what worlds and feelings and thoughts those discs retain......let's jump to when i realized i'm not cut to become a mechanical engineer and dropped out to go study filmmaking , but was severely lambasted by my father... so i went into graphic design, and chose to specialize in motion graphics, screen based design....and still wanting to be a filmmaker, it was only when my Danish instructor and friend told me about some folk highschool system in the secluded parts of Denmark.... i naturally applied and found myself in a micro-european community of enthusiats that want to venture in filmmaking.... the first course i took there was documentary ( a rather fundamental course) that broadened my perception ,opened my eyes and gave me certain skills that not only made me visualize , and technically approach filmmaking , but also nurtured my passion for documentaries and my evergrowing intellectual curiosity.... and from there on i tried to take every doc related course given at that institution....no secret that Mr. Burgan was the mastermind behind all those courses and sculpter of my new born documentary intellect.... after the course was over i went back to Lebanon (that peculiar tiny spot of bother in the middle east)... and as with everybody in that part of the world, being a full time filmmaker or any form of artistic occupation is synonymous with being non productive, social parasite , not to mention miserably broke... so i took ona job as an assistant producer for Young and Rubicam advertising (television commercials, radio spots , corporate films,.. what i call film prostitution) but i make ends meet, establish a not so bad network of cast, post production companies, directors, DOP, equipment rental....the full monty of film industry.....
i've been in the writing process of a doc-fiction about "the lebanese current situation" ( political assasinations, religious diversity and it's effect on society, state, and government).....
well that's about it...not so brief i see , then again you asked for it .....
oh just a colsing statement ; to me documentaries are the next level of filmmaking , the elevated intellect if you want ,la creme de la creme .....
