Clooney-backed film about Lebanon’s banking crisis presented in Venice
In Venice, Italy, the debut feature film Furies by Lebanese director Rami Kodeih was presented. The film was inspired by the authors’ experience during Lebanon’s banking crisis. Smokehouse Pictures, the production company run by George Clooney together with Grant Heslov, joined the project, The National reports.
The film was screened at the Venice Film Festival on September 4. Clooney and Heslov attended the screening. Kodeih worked on the screenplay with his wife and co-writer Nora Mariana, who is of Lebanese descent and from Los Angeles.
Inaccessible savings
The idea for the film emerged after Lebanon’s banking crisis began in 2019. Mariana needed surgery and planned to pay for it with savings she kept in a Lebanese bank. However, the couple was unable to access the funds.
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During the Covid-19 pandemic, Mariana began writing the screenplay scene by scene. She described the work as a way to emotionally process the situation and as a fantasy about getting her own money back. Ultimately, Mariana’s family sold her grandfather’s house to pay for the operation. According to the screenwriter, the money from Lebanese banks was never returned to her.
A story about sisters
At the center of Furies are the sisters Maro and Dalia, played by Rim Mroue and Maria Nakouzi. The protagonists find themselves amid the 2019 banking crisis and decide to rob a local bank to take money they believe belongs to them. Part of the funds is needed for Dalia’s life-saving operation.
Kodeih and Mariana filmed the movie in Lebanon, as they considered it important to convey the atmosphere of Beirut. Kodeih lived in Lebanon for three decades and worked in documentary cinema, while the couple has lived in the United States for about 10 years. The authors also said they were influenced by the 2020 Beirut port explosion and concerns for loved ones who remain in Lebanon.
