Lebanese filmmaker Serena Abi Aad on her visit to Copenhagen in spring 2008. Photo: Lotte Dahlmann/IMS

The newly signed peace agreement between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah is very promising and may offer a turning point for Lebanese film industry, says Lebanese filmmaker Serena Abi Aad in interview with IMS. She is in Denmark to edit her latest film in cooperation with the Danish Film School and the twinning program under IMS Media Cooperation with the Arab world and Iran. The film will be screened at the Film School on 12 June

"I've got to go to the beach to work on my tan before I return home to Lebanon!" Lebanese filmmaker Serena Abi Aad sounds just like the 24-year old she is: living by the minute and by the day enjoying the enjoyable moments.

However, there is also a deeper side to Serena. Having worked with film for the past eight years, she takes in life and captures it with the camera lens - to share with the world her version of what life is about.

Since late April 2008, Serena has been in Copenhagen to edit her next film in cooperation with students at the Danish Film School. She is here upon invitation from the Danish Film School and in collaboration with the twinning program of the IMS Media Cooperation Program for the Arab World and Iran.

The seeds were sown two years ago, when Serena participated in a workshop for young filmmakers from the Arab region, which was organised by the Danish Film School in cooperation with DCCD.

The universal message of love

The raw footage for her current film was shot in Lebanon and deals with love, explains Serena:

- Most films tell the story of the love that builds between to people. Mine takes its departure in the painful breaking up of a relationship - and the transition from the broken heart to the emergence of a new relationship.

IMS: Is the film mainly targeting a Lebanese audience - or does it hold a universal message?

- It is universal. It accentuates the relationship problems that we can all relate to, Serena says and describes, how her Danish counterparts have related very well to the story.

The film is shot on a rooftop in Beirut, and to Serena the setting adds a symbolic meaning to the film:

- I feel jailed in Beirut, so the open space on the rooftop breaks this feeling. Also, around us you can see construction going on, and that becomes a metaphor for the reconstruction of myself after the break-up, Serena says and reveals that she is in fact building her film on a personal experience that only happened months ago. No doubt therefore, that it is "a very honest film", as she says.

Optimism in the wake of peace

On the day of the interview with IMS, the moment spells SUMMER. Only natural she wants to go to the beach! It is not the Danish beach, however, that calls to Serena.

More importantly, she is looking forward to spending summer in her hometown Beirut as rumour has it that all flights from Europe and the US to Beirut are fully booked for the summer.

Besides going to the beach and flashing a beautiful tan, Serena hopes that some of the young intellectuals who left Lebanon during more turbulent years will spend summer in Beirut contemplating whether to return more permanently. This possibility seems particularly promising to Serena now than just a few weeks ago.

During three days in the beginning of May, when the Hezbollah militia demonstrated its power to the Lebanese government by almost taking control over Beirut, fear of a new war in Lebanon became imminent. But with the peace agreement that was signed by the opposing parties in Qatar last week, there is a general feeling in Lebanon that this will mark a historic turn for the tormented nation:

- I really hope that many young Lebanese will return. It would be good for Lebanon and for the film sector as well. A new spirit of hope will bring investments back -investments that are badly needed, Serena says.

For years, she explains, Lebanon has laid scene to a roll back on many fronts including film:

- Lebanese cinema was very well known until the 1970ies with a huge film industry and really good films. All that died with the war. I hope that the 'Golden Age' of Lebanese cinema will come back. To achieve that, I'd like the Lebanese audience to be more open to controversial films. I know people would like a good comedy or action movie. But I'd also like them to have the curiosity to go to the cinema and watch a wider range of genres, Serena says referring to the scene of TV-series and soaps that in her view do not have much to offer.

All this might change now, says Serena referring to the peace agreement:

- People in Lebanon are saying, "things had to get worse before they could get any better". The thing is: they slept on the problem for years and this is what caused the war in May. But after this crisis, things are bound to get better. I'm very optimistic, says Serena Abi Aad.