Director: Philippe Aractingi
Screenplay: Philippe Aractingi
Cinematographer: Garry Turnbull
Editing: Dana K. Trometer
Sound: Myriam Chayeb
Music: Ali El Khatib, Martin Russel, Simon Emmerson
Cast.: Rodney El Haddad, Nadine Labaki, Nada Abou Farhat, Omar Rajeh, Liliane Nemri
Production: Autobus Ltd, Fantascope Production
Year: 2005
35 mm, Color, 110 min,
OV Arabian with French subtitles
Seven old school mates meeting after a gap of fifteen years decide to drive on Lebanese roads in an old school bus which they repainted, as they would have dressed a wound. They go from a village to another one to do what they always loved: dance. Their somehow hybrid mix of Dabke, a traditional dance, and of techno indeed reflects people of their generation who grew too fast and try to modernize the past of a world whose landmarks are lost. While the bus drives through Lebanon on a turbulent tour, each of them experiences a self-discovery while also discovering a country of multiple identities.
In this musical road-movie, the bus through Lebanon today paves the way for reconciliation. It is an initiatory journey where the themes of tolerance between religions, relationship to the father, homosexuality, and position of women in Lebanese society are tackled with a subtle but totally light mood. The road here is a speech for defending national reconciliation.
