Documentary Room for a Man Screens at Cairo Cinema Days with the Attendance of Director Anthony Chidiac

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Landing its Arab World Premiere

Documentary Room for a Man Screens at Cairo Cinema Days with the Attendance of Director Anthony Chidiac


Lebanese director Anthony Chidiac attended the screening of his documentary film Room for a Man at Karim Cinema today, within the activities of the Cairo Cinema Days (23 - 30 April), where he interacted with the audience.

The film follows a young gay filmmaker who shares a Beirut apartment with his mother and pet dog attempts to reconstruct his identity by renovating his bedroom. But as the Syrian construction workers come and go in the freshly embattled household, new questions, old arguments and unexpected passions get stirred. Venturing further, the filmmaker contacts his estranged father to ask about the Argentinian passport he once had as a little boy. After years of separation, father and son embark on a journey to South America in search of family ties. The film is an intimate essay about the meaning of masculinity and a young man's search for acceptance across two continents.

Room for a Man is written and directed by Lebanese filmmaker Anthony Chidiac, produced by Talal Al-Muhanna (Linked Productions) and Carole Abboud (c.cam production), and distributed by MAD Solutions. The film received production and post-production grants from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) and a production grant from the Screen Institute Beirut. Room for a Man world premiered at the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) in Canada, within the International Feature competition and took part in the Arab Film Festival Berlin.

Director/writer/editor Anthony Chidiac was born in Beirut in 1988. He graduated from St. Joseph University with a BA in Audiovisual Studies with his diploma short film Kfarhanem's Inn, screened at the Cabriolet Film Festival in Lebanon, the Kelibia Film Festival in Tunisia, on MTV Lebanon and on BBC Arabia in the frame of Alternative Cinema.

In 2010, Anthony participated in The Exchange Program between the National Film School in Denmark and Screen Institute Beirut. He directed his documentary Equal Men in Copenhagen that was eventually screened at the Beirut Cinema Days. In 2013, he co-wrote with Selim Mourad and directed his first medium length fiction film Maman? Non, Merci, screened in various European and Arab film festivals.