PRESS KIT
SYNOPSIS In a peaceful village in the mountains of Lebanon, an old man named Faisal, makes a living from crafting canes for the elderly villagers. After a client makes an order from him, Faisal heads to the forest to look for the right branch and finds the perfect one on an isolated oak tree. However, the wooden piece is not tall enough, and still needs to grow. Given that, Faisal marks the tree by attaching a green cloth to it and decides to come back later. A few weeks go by, and Faisal comes back to cut the branch. However, as he arrives in front of the oak tree, he discovers that it has turned into a religious shrine for the villagers seeking its blessing. Although intrigued and confused, Faisal remains determined to cut the branch and deliver the cane to his client. Will Faisal be able get his branch?
Extremism can affect people’s lives dramatically. When one group wants to impose its ideas onto the other part of society, even by the use of force, then things could end up with tragedy.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT The film deals with people’s reactions to misread information, and the way extremism can dramatically affect people’s lives through imposition of beliefs and ideas on a weak society, regardless of an almost certain tragic end. The film is relevant in today’s global world where information is greatly distorted. It also addresses the theory of cognitive dissonance that refers to situations involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviours that produce a feeling of discomfort which alters one of these states to reduce the psychological distress and restore balance. - ETHAN JAHAN
MAIN CREDITS A CESARA STUDIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Ethan Jahan WRITER Ghazi Rabihavi PRODUCER Malek Hosni CO-PRODUCER Joelle Manih EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Ethan Jahan / Joelle Manih DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Yannis Manolopoulos EDITOR Malek Hosni SOUND DESIGNER Rob Szeliga
ETHAN JAHAN (Director)
ETHAN JAHAN grew up in the UK where he first studied Mathematics and Physics in A level, and then finance in Manchester. He later worked for an accounting firm in London and left the finance world a year later to pursue an MA in digital media. He currently works in BBC as a picture editor and has directed several documentaries and three short films.
GHAZI RABIHAVI (Writer)
GHAZI RABIHAVI is an Iranian writer based in London. He studied Literature and Performing Arts before writing his own short stories, novels and plays. In a bid to make a living as a writer, he wrote more than 20 screenplays which became box office hits in Iran and was the first writer to criticisie the Iran-Iraq war with his work, the most memorable, ‘The Memoirs of a Soldier’ (1983).
MALEK HOSNI (Producer)
Born and raised in Lebanon, MALEK HOSNI started his career in Egypt in the midst of the revolutionary period with Middle West Films a production company deeply involved in the independent filmmaking scene in Cairo. After returning to Lebanon, Hosni collaborated with several production companies such as Ginger Productions and Dar Al.
YIANNIS MANOLOPOULOS (Dir. of Photography) YIANNIS is one of the top cin-ematographers in London. He received an MA from LFS and recently graduat-ed of the ASC Masterclass workshop. Yiannis was the recipient of the LFS 2014 PANALUX award for cin-ematography. His feature film as a DoP “Utopia” has been longlisted for the 88th Academy Awards, as a foreign submission.
BENJAMIN ELLIN (Composer)
Award-winning British conductor and composer, BENJAMIN ELLIN is currently Music Director of Thursford Productions, co-founder of Tafahum, Pr i n c i p a l Co n d u c t o r o f t h e Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra and President of the Pembroke Academy of Music, London.
TECHNICAL SPECS ORIGINAL TITLE The Oak Tree COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION Lebanon ORIGINAL LANGUAGE Arabic SUBTITLES English I French I Italian DURATION 37 minutes (30 minute alternative cut) AVAILABLE RESOLUTION 2K / HD SCREENING FORMAT DCP I DVD I Blu-Ray I .MOV 422 SHOOTING FORMAT Digital 2K SOUND 5.1 I Stereo
CONTACT RIGHTS, SALES & FESTIVALS Cesara Studio Productions Joelle Manih +447713266660 ETHAN JAHAN E: ethanjahan@outlook.com T: +44757444488
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© Cesara Studio Productions 2017