KfW Stiftung 321d ago

Suspended (Trailer) Jana Bou Matar & Ali Al Samra "Frankfurt Moves!" 2024 This is the love story of two theatre-makers working on a performance that, like a nightmarish joke, was the last to happen in Beirut. One day after the premiere, the sole surviving theatre caught fire, and there was neither the means nor the initiative to revive it. “She” and “He” go on stage, suspended, searching for words, anxiously trying to bury a corpse in sleep, in sex, in talking — a corpse they are unable to name or touch. Is it their own corpse? The corpse of the city? The corpse of justice? Of theatre? Of love? They find themselves in a haunted and collapsed city, unable to inhabit or grieve the "here and now" as love and language become materials that are corroding. In the violent absence of this corpse, they obsessively and repeatedly fail “to be,” questioning whether it is even possible to be oneself or to be in love. Concept & text: Jana Bou Matar (Lebanon) Devised & performed by: Jana Bou Matar, Ali Al Samra Language: English Video (Trailer): DeDa Productions Ali Al Samra is a theatre maker, performer and researcher. He studied acting and directing and is interested in merging multidisciplinary articulations of storytelling, such as shadow theatre, puppets and masks, as well as in the integration of theatre in social-educational fields. He is part of the The Red Bridge Ensemble and "The International Institution for Very Serious Studies" (IIVVSS) and a teacher with Seenaryo. @ali.al.samra Jana Bou Matar is a theatre-maker who performs, directs and writes for theatre to challenge concepts around political and social ideas. Her first play “Meaning Making Cocktail” was invited to represent Lebanon in the Carthage Festival. She is a founder of Kawalis Zoukak Kommunity and is a member of Laban Theater. She is currently pursuing her master's in Theater Studies at Saint Joseph University of Beirut. @janaboumatar "Frankfurt Moves!" is an initiative of the foundation KfW Stiftung aimed at promoting artistic exchange and intercultural dialogue. The residency programme in cooperation with the Frankfurt LAB supports international emerging artists in the performing arts.