Charlie Khalil Prince to a still moment repeated

In Partnership with Festival Accès Asie

Inspired by his grandfather Samir Tabet, a centenary painter and artist in Beirut, Charlie Khalil Prince has always been interested in the notion of the portrait. The witnessing and making of a portrait allow one to meditate into the humanity and vulnerability of the subject, revealing their otherwise imperceptible depth and inner universe. Shot primarily during the recent Israeli assault on Lebanon in October 2024, alongside filmmaker Karim Ghorayeb, Prince created video portraits of individuals of varying social classes, religious backgrounds and generations in his home country. Each subject was asked to jump or sense a jump in front of the camera within the intimacy of their homes. This was followed by a discussion on their dreams and fantasies of falling, flying and every moment of possibility in between. Lebanon is drowning in collapse, political violence and financial catastrophy. 
It felt necessary, more than ever, to propose images of bodies that are not succumbing to a failed state, but rather ascending beyond the systemic violence and geopolitical turbulence.


to a still moment repeated offers a profound meditation on hope and the body’s capacity to find the poetics within, one that is as inseparable from its sense of power and agency, regardless of the context.


How do grace and resistance meet?
How do the poetics of the body meet the politics of its environment?


Is the body flying or falling?

Leaping into open space, the subjects are unconcerned and indifferent to the imminency of their fall, they are suspended in time - in the decisive moment between action and reaction:



Is the body falling or flying?

Credits - to a still moment repeated

Concept: Charlie Khalil Prince
Direction and cinematography: Karim Ghorayeb
Editing: Karim Ghorayeb, Inaam Attar, Bachar Khattar
Production: Chrystell Younes, Bittersweet
With the voice of Soha Bechara from the interview in “untitled part 1: everything and nothing”(2001) by Jayce Salloum
Original music: Charlie Khalil Prince
Second camera: Bachar Khattar
Camera assistants: Nabil Assaf, Samer Sardouk, Walid
Equipment: Nabil Assaf, Rachel Noja rental house
Calibration: Elias Nemer
Additional sound design: Cédric Kayem
Dramaturgy and staging consultation: Yaraqa
Additional video editing : Bachar Khattar, Tracy Karam
Subtitle translation: Olivia Tapiero, Charlie Khalil Prince

Cast:
Samir Tabet
Vianey de Marceau
Omar Bakeer
Bernadette Abou Antoun
Bassam Abou Diab
Andrea Fahed
Jessa Aguilar
Salim Mrad
Natasha Karam
Thelma Merhej
Elie Abou Zeid
Andrea Abboud
Ziad
Elie Abou Zeid
Farah Naboulsi
Serge
Bachar Khattar
Ahmad

Special thanks: Nayla Naoufal, Lea Ghorayeb, Dea Hage-Chahine-Adonis Khattar-Rayan-Georges Barbary, Hoda Adra, Jayce Salloum ,
Romy Assouad, Audrey Bilodeau Fontaine, Cristo Riffo, Tamar Tembeck, Sonja Zlatanova, Fili Zhou-Gibbons

Created with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, OBORO and Festival Accès Asie