Wissam Charaf directed several short films including Hizz Ya Wizz (Entrevues 2004), and The Army of Ants (Locarno and Entrevues 2007). In 2012 he directed his first documentary It's all in Lebanon, then Après (awarded at Pantin and Brive in 2016) and his first feature film Falling from the Sky, which premiered at Acid Cannes. Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous is his third feature film and had its world premiere at Giornate degli autori in Venice.
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Wissam Charaf’s third feature film breathes cheerful and organic minimalism to a tale about exile. His characters, both ultra-contemporary refugees and romantic heroes, have no other choice but to go forth, as the war in Syria and the Lebanese society–that has grown deaf to social inequalities–are bearing down on them. Fleeing Beirut like comic strip heroes, Ahmed and Mehdia can only rely on their wits and new-found love rituals to hold their course. These are remedies to our political ailments, freed from any convention, without ever easing the harshness of their ordeal. Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous addresses violence and vagrancy head on, to unveil its fantastical core: the diseases of our time are revealed on Ahmed’s very body, which has become a blend of flesh and metal. A daydreaming realist, Wissam Charaf enjoys playing with style and tone: following in the footsteps of João César Monteiro, he brings Nosferatu back to life, and makes viewers see both horror and farce in the eyes of the monster.
Vincent Poli
