Ahmed Ghosein flanked by his Danish partners, Asta Wellejus (right) and Julie Wieth during the workshop in Lebanon, 2008. Photo: Rasmus Steen/IMS.

Through collaboration with IMS, a young Lebanese filmmaker was teamed up with professional scriptwriters in Denmark to learn the trade of script writing

In the past months, Lebanese film director and producer, Ahmed Ghosein has worked closely together with Asta Wellejus and Julie Wieth from Denmark in a joint script writing project facilitated and funded by IMS under the twinning project of the IMS Media Cooperation Programme with the Arab world and Iran.

Ahmed Ghosein developed the idea of the script for a fiction movie based on a true story from the armed conflict between Israel and Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

According to the story, a group of Israeli soldiers took control over a small Lebanese village in south Lebanon and occupied the first floor of a house, thinking the owners had abandoned the house. In fact, however, the owner and his family were hiding in the basement, and as they learnt that the house had been occupied by Israeli soldiers they were forced to remain in hiding until the soldiers left some days later.

- The story is not about the war, explains Ahmed Ghosein when in Copenhagen to finalize the script-writing project in the beginning of July. It is about people upstairs and downstairs who share the same fears, and in this case hunger and other concerns as well.

Seeking collaboration with Danish experts

Even though Lebanon has a vibrant film community and industry, script writing and even producing films is not professionalized to the extent it is seen in Europe and elsewhere.

- You don't find professional scriptwriters in Lebanon, says Ahmed Ghosein.

He had previously worked with IMS in connection with a co-production of a documentary film, which will be presented on DR Channel 1 in August, and he therefore turned to IMS for help. This lead to the cooperation with Asta Wellejus, who is the former development director of Zentropa Interaction and now director of her own company "Die Asta". Julie Wieth who joined as the assistant developer to Asta, is a trained actress and holds a degree in script writing from the National Film School of Denmark as well.

- We agreed to cooperate and Asta and Julie gave a workshop on script writing during winter in Copenhagen, explains Ahmed.

Later followed a ten-day script writing workshop in Lebanon and finally, in June, Ahmed spent ten days in Copenhagen finalising the script writing process. Ahmed explains that the story is framed from A to Z, and that the main characters have been developed in close cooperation with Julie Wieth as well as some scenes for the story.

- I learnt so much from this process. I learnt how to write a script in a systematic way, how to write a scenario and how to deal with the treatment. I feel I have got all the tools to continue finalising the script, says Ahmed and continues enthusiastically:

- It was fascinating to work on how to visually show on film that 50 years of war is still in the bodies of the characters, and to sketch out how the camera should move in the house to be able to show, how these people are stuck in the house, says Ahmed Ghosein.

Still some way to go

He is clearly excited about the whole process, and keen to adding script writing to his CV in due course he tells IMS WEB that he has been accepted for a MA in script writing at Goldsmiths, University of London.

At the same time, however, Ahmed Ghosein is also concerned. Ahead lies the task to finalize the script applying the tools he has been given. And then comes the issue of raising funds to produce the film, which is a different and very tough ballgame, Ahmed is not looking forward to:

- It will be very difficult if at all possible, to raise the necessary funds in Lebanon, he says.

With a background in the music video production industry in Lebanon, Ahmed's star is still en route to appear in the Hall of Fame, and until it happens, fundraising in Lebanon is traditionally an uphill battle. But Ahmed is hopeful - and airs the view, that perhaps the co-produced documentary might open new doors for a joint venture of sorts with an institution in Denmark for his first fiction movie.