Adel Serhan.

Adel Serhan is a prominent Lebanese director.  Throughout his 20-year career, he has directed dozens of music videos and commercials and worked with some of the Middle East’s most acclaimed artists. In recent years, he has pursued his passion for cinema. His first movie, Khillet Warde, was featured in several film festivals and received numerous awards. 

Betroit, his second and most recent movie, is based in both Beirut and Detroit and deals with the sensitive issue of domestic violence. After garnering much success in Lebanon, the movie will premiere in the U.S. on June 27, at the Fordson High School auditorium in Dearborn. 

The Arab American News spoke with Serhan and discussed his career, Betroit, and art and cinema in Lebanon and the Middle East.

Adel Serhan: The idea for Betroit came from within society; from people’s problems; from things we see daily. Domestic violence has been a problem of our time, all over the world, not just in Lebanon and the United States, and we ought to reach a point where we are able to stop it with enforceable laws. The point of the movie is to get this idea across to every person who watches it, so that we can find a law that protects women without abusing men. Abuse against men is not necessarily violence, but under an unfair law, men could be stripped of their rights, possessions and custody of their children.

AS: I chose Detroit, because it was recently declared as the city with the most violent crimes in the United States, and many of these crimes are domestic violence crimes, committed against women. 

AS: A movie should be released at an appropriate time for the audience. Lebanon is not politically stable. We did not want the movie to pass through the theaters without being watched. We wanted some stability at the time of the release. Initially, we wanted to release it on 12/12/12, but people theorized that it was going to be the end of the world, so we postponed it a little bit. (laughing).

TAAN: How was the movie perceived in Lebanon? 

AS: It was perceived really well. It received only two percent negative feedback, and the rest was positive. The opening event was fascinating; Lebanon has not witnessed anything like it in 40 years. So far, more than 65,000 people have seen Betroit in Lebanon. 

AS: Over the past two years, Lebanese cinema has been heading to a great place. We have one essential problem in Lebanon though: The political and security situation. Cinema needs peace of mind. You cannot be going to cinema and listen to news of turmoil in your country, especially in such a small country, like Lebanon. If we get some security and stability, in four or five years, Lebanese cinema can progress to have a strong presence, not only in the Arab World, but also on the international stage. In Lebanon, we have the expertise and the talent. We have great actors and directors. We have a culture that is open to the world. All these things allow us to progress and compete for the top.

AS: Egypt has a great history in the movie industry.  Up until two years ago, it had been a stable country. Egyptians did not have the war that the Lebanese had. That allowed them to be more creative. Egyptian cinema also has the funding that Lebanon has lacked, because there is no trust in the Lebanese project and in Lebanon as a country.

AS: People do not want movies about the war anymore. Yes, the war created ideas, but you need time and peace to film those ideas; without being on your nerves. War and instability slowed down the rise of Lebanese cinema. 

AS: In Lebanon, work comes in all at once. When the atmosphere is tense, however, it disappears all at once. Record label companies have not been producing music videos. I used to film four videos a month for Rotana (the biggest record company in the Middle East). Now, I film four videos a year for them. Singers are trying to produce their own music videos; budgets are lower. Also concert revenues are down. Who will attend a concert during such an electrified political vibe? There cannot be bullets next to you, while you’re singing at a concert. There cannot be fights next to you, while you’re filming a video clip. It’s hard. The crisis, especially in Syria, has affected all artists negatively.

AS: The political class does not affect artists in Lebanon at all. No politician ever tells an artist that you have to sing this, or film that. We have total freedom in that regard, but, like I said earlier, the political atmosphere severely affects the psychological state of artists. 

AS: The Lebanese abroad play a major role. They are the financial backbone of the country. When they send money to their families, come to Lebanon and spend money, or go to concerts and buy records, they help the art and the economy. Lebanon has always been dependent on money coming from Lebanese in the Diaspora. When times were getting hard in Lebanon, some artists, who were not doing financially well, improved their economic situation by doing concerts and tours in America.

Serhan will be working on a new movie by the beginning of next year. Like Betroit, the new movie will focus on sensitive social issues and will also be filmed, in part, in the U.S. 

Serhan believes that Lebanese cinema could one day compete with European, Iranian and Israeli movies at the Oscars. He considers art a “message to improve society.” Currently, he is planning to tour the world with his new movie, starting in Dearborn, at the end of this month. He says that Betroit is a movie for everybody, not just Arabs. It is performed in both English and Arabic, and includes subtitles in both languages.