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Ziad Doueiri’s film ‘The Insult’ is one of this year’s Oscar nominees in the Foreign Film category. The film, largely a courtroom drama, tackles the cultural, religious and political rifts that exist in Lebanon since 1948. Doueiri spoke with VOA’s Penelope Poulou about the film’s hard-hitting elements and its message of reconciliation between Moslems and Christians.
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From: MeNeedIt
Ziad Doueiri’s film The Insult is one of this year’s Oscar nominees in the Foreign Film category. The film, largely a courtroom drama, tackles the cultural, religious and political rifts that have existed in Lebanon since 1948. Doueiri told VOA about the film’s hard-hitting elements and its message of reconciliation between Muslims and Christians.
Ziad Doueiri is very passionate about his work. His story about the verbal dispute between two men from two different ethnic and religious backgrounds in Beirut, Lebanon, reveals his anxiety about his country, which he feels is fragmented and has not reconciled with its past.
“Lebanon is still a volatile place. Lebanon is so dynamic. But also, we had a past. Beirut, Lebanon had a rough past. We had a lot of conflict with the Syrians, the Palestinians, the Lebanese, the Left, the Right, the Conservatives, the Liberals. The pro-West, the pro-East. Lebanon is such a tiny place, but it really absorbs all those kinds of things,” he said.
“So, whenever you have that many conflicts and such a tiny place surrounded by so many countries we are on a hot bed of problems. Things can get out of hand because since the end of the civil war the Lebanese never sat down with each other to say, ‘ok the war is over, let’s talk about it.’ There is stability, but it can explode any time.”
His film The Insult conveys this combustible political climate. In the middle of a heated political campaign in Beirut, a small dispute about a drainpipe between Tony, a Christian Lebanese car mechanic and Yasser, a Palestinian construction foreman, takes on monstrous proportions. After Tony’s faulty drainpipe gets him wet, Yasser fixes it, only to see it destroyed by Tony, who does not want a Palestinian close to his property. Yasser loses his temper and curses Tony out.
Despite his pregnant wife’s advice to avoid a confrontation, Tony goes to Yasser’s boss and demands Yasser apologize and be fined for his behavior. Like most Palestinian refugees who’ve lived in Lebanon since 1948, Yasser does not have a work permit. His boss pressures him to apologize or lose his job. When he goes to meet Tony, instead of a reconciliation, the argument escalates. This time it is Tony who insults Yasser. Yasser punches Tony and breaks two of his ribs. Tony takes Yasser to court.
Filmmaker Doueiri said the idea for his film came from personal experience. “Just like the film starts, I was watering my plants. It’s an old apartment so the water leaked and fell on one of the construction workers and he yelled because the water fell on him and we had a heated exchange of words and we ended up yelling at each other,” he said.
Doueiri said, thankfully, the argument was settled. “Couple of days later, it started dawning on me, ‘What if I start a story where there is such a silly insignificant incident, but it does not get resolved. And actually, becomes more complicated.’ And I start asking myself the questions, ‘could such an insignificant problem in Lebanon develop into a national crisis?’ It can.”
The Insult escalates into a serious courtroom drama, as the two men, looking for justice, take the dispute all the way up to the country’s Supreme Court and the Lebanese government.
“When the film came out, it split the country in a way, because the Christian population flooded the movie and it became number one, [at the box office] but certain part, a big part of the Muslim community boycotted the movie.”
As a filmmaker, Doueiri is no stranger to controversy. His previous film, The Attack, was banned in 22 countries, including Lebanon, because he had shot it in Israel. He said The Insult has also been boycotted in some Arab countries, including Jordan and the Palestinian territories.
“It is very unfortunate that the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah banned the movie. Even though one of the main actors who plays the Palestinian got a huge award at the Venice film festival, for Best Male Performance,” he said.
Doueiri, who was raised by an intellectual leftist pro-Palestinian Lebanese family, said his film offers a balanced study between Christian Lebanese and Muslim Palestinians. His script, part character drama, part courtroom drama, was co-written with his Christian Lebanese partner Joelle Touma.
“She wrote all the scenes of the Palestinian, she grew up hating those Palestinians, but all the scenes where they had the lawyer defending the Palestinian, she wrote them. And all the scenes, the Christian lawyer defending the Christian, I wrote them. So, we crossed,” he said.
The Insult is an elegantly told story that peers into the psychological makeup of Lebanon and its inhabitants. Despite the controversy it has created, the Lebanese government chose it to represent the country at the Oscars.
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From: MeNeedIt
Federal investigators are still looking at how CSX railway crews routed an Amtrak train into a parked freight train in Cayce, South Carolina, last weekend. But even if CSX should bear sole responsibility for the accident, Amtrak will likely end up paying crash victims’ legal claims with public money.
Amtrak pays for accidents it didn’t cause because of secretive agreements negotiated between the passenger rail company, which receives more than $1 billion annually in federal subsidies, and the private railroads, which own 97 percent of the tracks on which Amtrak travels.
Both Amtrak and freight railroads that own the tracks fight to keep those contracts secret in legal proceedings. But whatever the precise legal language, plaintiffs’ lawyers and former Amtrak officials say Amtrak generally bears the full cost of damages to its trains, passengers, employees and other crash victims — even in instances where crashes occurred as the result of a freight rail company’s negligence or misconduct.
No ‘iron in the fire’
Railroad industry advocates say that freight railways have ample incentive to keep their tracks safe for their employees, customers and investors. But the Surface Transportation Board and even some federal courts have long concluded that allowing railroads to escape liability for gross negligence is bad public policy.
“The freight railroads don’t have an iron in the fire when it comes to making the safety improvements necessary to protect members of the public,” said Bob Pottroff, a Manhattan, Kansas, rail injury attorney who has sued CSX on behalf of an injured passenger from the Cayce crash. “They’re not paying the damages.”
Beyond CSX’s specific activities in the hours before the accident, the company’s safety record has deteriorated in recent years, according to a standard metric provided by the Federal Railroad Administration. Since 2013, CSX’s rate of major accidents per million miles traveled has jumped by more than half, from 2 to 3.08 — significantly worse than the industry average. And rail passenger advocates raised concerns after the CSX CEO at the time pushed hard last year to route freight more directly by altering its routes.
CSX denied that safety had slipped at the company, blaming the change in the major accident index on a reduction of total miles traveled combined with changes in its cargo and train length.
“Our goal remains zero accidents,” CSX spokesman Bryan Tucker wrote in a statement provided to The Associated Press. CSX’s new system of train routing “will create a safer, more efficient railroad resulting in a better service product for our customers,” he wrote.
Amtrak’s ability to offer national rail service is governed by separately negotiated track usage agreements with 30 different railroads. All the deals share a common trait: They’re “no fault,” according to a September 2017 presentation delivered by Amtrak executive Jim Blair as part of a Federal Highway Administration seminar.
No fault means Amtrak takes full responsibility for its property and passengers and the injuries of anyone hit by a train. The “host railroad” that operates the tracks must only be responsible for its property and employees. Blair called the decades-long arrangement “a good way for Amtrak and the host partners to work together to get things resolved quickly and not fight over issues of responsibility.”
Amtrak declined to comment on Blair’s presentation. But Amtrak’s history of not pursuing liability claims against freight railroads doesn’t fit well with federal officials and courts’ past declarations that the railroads should be held accountable for gross negligence and willful misconduct.
Maryland crash, backlash
After a 1987 crash in Chase, Maryland, in which a Conrail train crew smoked marijuana then drove a train with disabled safety features past multiple stop signals and into an Amtrak train — killing 16 — a federal judge ruled that forcing Amtrak to take financial responsibility for “reckless, wanton, willful, or grossly negligent acts by Conrail” was contrary to good public policy.
Conrail paid. But instead of taking on more responsibility going forward, railroads went in the opposite direction, recalls a former Amtrak board member who spoke to the AP. After Conrail was held responsible in the Chase crash, he said, Amtrak got “a lot of threats from the other railroads.”
The former board member requested anonymity because he said that Amtrak’s internal legal discussions were supposed to remain confidential and he did not wish to harm his own business relationships by airing a contentious issue.
Because Amtrak operates on the freight railroads’ tracks and relies on the railroads’ dispatchers to get passenger trains to their destinations on time, Amtrak executives concluded they couldn’t afford to pick a fight, the former Amtrak board member said.
“The law says that Amtrak is guaranteed access” to freights’ tracks, he said. “But it’s up to the goodwill of the railroad as to whether they’ll put you ahead or behind a long freight train.”
A 2004 New York Times series on train crossing safety drew attention to avoidable accidents at railroad crossings and involving passenger trains — and to railroads’ ability to shirk financial responsibility for passenger accidents. In the wake of the reporting, the Surface Transportation Board ruled that railroads “cannot be indemnified for its own gross negligence, recklessness, willful or wanton misconduct,” according to a 2010 letter by then-Surface Transportation Board chairman Dan Elliott to members of Congress.
That ruling gives Amtrak grounds to pursue gross negligence claims against freight railroads — if it wanted to.
“If Amtrak felt that if they didn’t want to pay, they’d have to litigate it,” said Elliott, now an attorney at Conner & Winters.
Same lawyers
The AP was unable to find an instance where the railroad has brought such a claim against a freight railroad since the 1987 Chase, Maryland, disaster. The AP also asked Amtrak, CSX and the Association of American Railroads to identify any example within the last decade of a railroad contributing to a settlement or judgment in a passenger rail accident that occurred on its track. All entities declined to provide such an example.
Even in court cases where establishing gross negligence by a freight railroad is possible, said Potrroff, the plaintiff’s attorney, he has never seen any indication that the railroad and Amtrak are at odds.
“You’ll frequently see Amtrak hire the same lawyers the freight railroads use,” he said.
Ron Goldman, a California plaintiff attorney who has also represented passenger rail accident victims, agreed. While Goldman’s sole duty is to get the best possible settlement for his client, he said he’d long been curious about whether it was Amtrak or freight railroads which ended up paying for settlements and judgments.
“The question of how they share that liability is cloaked in secrecy,” he said, adding: “The money is coming from Amtrak when our clients get the check.”
Pottroff said he has long wanted Amtrak to stand up to the freight railroads on liability matters. Not only would it make safety a bigger financial consideration for railroads, he said, it would simply be fair.
“Amtrak has a beautiful defense — the freight railroad is in control of all the infrastructure,” he said. But he’s not expecting Amtrak to use it during litigation over the Cayce crash.
“Amtrak always pays,” he said.
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From: MeNeedIt
For years, doctors have been warning of a post-antibiotic age with resistant mutations leading to so-called superbugs — multidrug-resistant infections that can evade the medicines designed to kill them. Faith Lapidus reports that the race is on to develop new drugs to treat these emerging, mutating infections.
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From: MeNeedIt
Billionaire CEO Elon Musk is off to a big 2018. He’s chief executive of both SpaceX and Tesla. His space-travel company launched off the planet and into orbit a roadster from his electric car company. It was the latest milestone for an executive who looks to revolutionize space travel and technology. Arash Arabasadi reports.
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From: MeNeedIt
There are growing fears that Britain could be headed for a so-called cliff-edge exit from the European Union, as big differences remain between Brussels and London over the shape of any deal. It comes as Japan warns its businesses may pull out of Britain if they face higher costs after Brexit. A leaked government analysis suggests that economic growth in Britain will decline by up to 8 percent after it leaves the bloc. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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From: MeNeedIt
A teenager has won the first U.S. medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics, and it’s gold.
Seventeen-year-old Red Gerard, from Silverthorne, Colorado, in his debut Olympics, won the men’s slopestyle snowboarding competition.
“My emotions are crazy,” he said after his win. “I was just so happy to land the run and to make it to the podium. Ecstatic, I’m so excited.”
In his final run Sunday, Gerard triumphed over Canadians Max Parrot, who won the silver and Mark McMorris, who won a second bronze after Sochi four years ago.
“They were all so excited. It was awesome,” he said about the Canadian favorites whom he beat. “We are all friends out there so, yeah, they were just really happy that we all landed runs.”
High winds have led Pyeongchang Olympic officials to postpone the men’s downhill skiing event planned for Sunday.
Winds were gusting to 72 kph at the Jeongseon Alpine Center. The event will now be held Thursday. The men’s super-G and other speed racing events will be moved back a day, to Friday, the International Ski Federation (FIS) said.
“We kind of expected this downhill to be postponed due to wind, but at the same time the guys were charged up and ready to go,” said Sasha Rearick, the U.S. men’s alpine head coach. “With this being an outdoor sport, it is not abnormal.”
On Saturday, Norway’s Marit Bjoergen entered the history books at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. She became the most decorated female winter Olympian of all time when she won a silver medal in the 15 K skiathlon. It was her 11th medal — six gold, four silver and a bronze.
Charlotte Kalla of Sweden won this year’s first gold medal when she won the skiathlon. She won the race by more than 7 seconds, breaking away from the pack in the final two kilometers to avenge her loss to Bjoergen in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Krista Parmakoski of Finland won the bronze. U.S. skier Jessie Diggens finished fifth, the best-ever cross-country finish by an American woman.
The winter games run through Feb. 25.
Rafael Saakov of VOA’s Russian Service contributed to this report.
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From: MeNeedIt
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” — an old saying that often elicits groans — is just what organizers of an exhibition of 20th and 21st century photographic masterpieces at the Musée de l’Élysée in Lausanne believe and are promoting.
The exhibit, “The Beauty of Lines,” exposes 160 photographs from the extensive, New York-based Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla collection, considered one of the top five private collections in the world.
“The exhibition is a journey throughout the beauty of photography,” said Tatyana Franck, director of the internationally renowned Swiss photographic museum.
“The show is intended to have visitors experience beauty by how they feel,” she said. “You cannot explain beauty. It is something you feel, depending on your own history.”
Photo Gallery: ’The Beauty of Lines’ Exhibit at the Musée de l’Élysée
First time in Europe
This is the first time selected works of the 1,500 original prints from the collection of the husband and wife team are being presented in Europe.
The collection includes the works of 73 master photographers from the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Japan, such as Berenice Abbott, Robert Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Imogen Cunningham, Rineke Dijkstra, Robert Mapplethorpe, Man Ray and Hiroshi Sugimoto.
When she first met the two prominent collectors three years ago, Franck said she was “amazed by their enthusiasm and passion for photography” and their desire “to share their passion with the world.”
Celso Gonzalez-Falla told VOA he saw nothing unusual in that.
“The reason why we buy the photographs and are creating our collection is to share it with the rest of the world,” he said.
Sondra Gilman affirmed that “our philosophy is that no one should or could own art. It belongs to the world. To have wonderful art and have it limited to one family or a small group of people is outrageous.”
Show follows themes
The exhibit itself is not chronological. It is a thematic show that conveys the universality of artistic expression through photographs that explore ideas and concepts of humanity, society and nature without being constrained by time and nationality.
The show is divided into three sections: Lines, Abstractions and Curves.
“Lines, especially straight and parallel lines are used by photographers who want to depict reality,” Franck said. “Straight, vertical and parallel lines are being used by artists not only to document reality, but also to give some sociological messages.”
A noteworthy example of this is a 1933 print, “View of Exchange Place from Broadway,” by American photographer Berenice Abbott. The photo presents an image of a modern town in which tall buildings lean into each other, creating a sense of loneliness and powerlessness among the almost microscopically small people below.
This somewhat claustrophobic image is offset by an expansive view of “The George Washington Bridge,” a photograph by Margaret Bourke-White, the first U.S. war correspondent and one of the world’s first female photojournalists.
Franck said Bourke-White wanted to glorify the modernity of New York by shooting the bridge within a vertical and short frame. Although the picture was made in 1933, she said, “Today, 100 years later, that print seems and continues to seem modern.”
Unknown artists, too
In a departure from the exhibit’s focus on the works of famous photographers, the photo chosen for the cover of the catalogue is by an unknown Italian artist, Augusto Cantamessa.
The picture, “Breve Orizzonte” (Short Horizon), stands out for its poetic and graceful beauty. It captures a row of pencil thin trees swaying and seemingly straining to leave the frame that confines them. The trees tower over two miniature bikers peddling slowly through this strange forest.
“He was a true discovery for us. We never heard of this photographer,” Franck said. “What makes this collection extremely interesting is Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzales-Falla … do not have a criterion of names. They have the criteria of quality” when buying a print.
Gilman agreed that she and her husband were not affected by fame.
“We are only affected by the image, by our judgment and emotional reaction,” she said.
Abstractions and Curves
One of the finest examples in the second section, Abstractions, which presents the line in its purest form, is a 1960 picture by U.S. photographer Ray K. Metzker, called “Venice.”
In this photo, as in others in this section, the real world disappears behind abstract lines, creating a different kind of reality. The Metzker picture depicts two black doors split by a large vertical crack through which a sharp, dazzlingly bright light shines. Franck said she was certain that behind the doors she would find “true light and a huge welcoming sun.”
“It is perfection in terms of composition,” she said. “It is like a spiritual experience.”
Curved Lines are represented in the show with works by Edward Weston, Andre Kertesz and Robert Mapplethorpe among others. Curves capture life as it is. They are a symbol of sensuality. Curves show human beings in motion, moving from one situation to another.
The exhibition, which runs through May 6, is beautifully mounted and easily relatable within the intimate setting of the museum. From conversations with visitors, the collection seems to have changed the lens through which some now view photography.
‘Pictures talk to each other’
It even has added a new dimension to the way Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla see their collection.
“It has totally changed the way I look at my own photographs because we never ever analyzed them so distinctly as to isolate line,” Gilman said. “It has opened up a new world to us.”
Gonzalez-Falla had a similar reaction. “We always looked at our photographs because we loved them,” he told VOA. “The show now makes me look at the collection in a different light.”
Calling it a “marvelous installation,” Gonzalez-Falla said that he was particularly impressed with the way the photographs have been hung. “They have the pictures talk to each other.”
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From: MeNeedIt
A norovirus that left officials at the Pyeongchang Olympics scrambling to contain it means athletes might have more to worry about than just going for the gold. More than 100 people have come down with this dreaded stomach bug. VOA’s Carol Pearson tells us what it is, how it spreads and what precautions athletes and others can take to keep the virus in check.
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From: MeNeedIt
It’s been a tough week on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial average closed more than 300 points higher Friday, after plunging more than 1,000 points the day before, the second steepest decline in history. The biggest dive happened Monday when the blue chip index fell more than 1,100 points. It’s enough to make even the most experienced investors swoon. But does this mean the end of the nine-year bull market? Is it time to worry? Mil Arcega spoke with economic analysts to get some answers.
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From: MeNeedIt