The Last Man

Ghassan Salhab's The Last Man evokes the layers of the past that make up Beirut's sedimented present. Rather than approach history and politics head-on, Salhab's film does its work through an unlikely idea: a vampire is sucking the lifeblood from Beirut's citizenry, one victim at a time. A respected doctor, Khalil Shams (Carlos Chahine), whom we see scuba-diving in one of the film's many enigmatic and beautiful sequences, begins to suspect he himself is the vampire. Recoiling from sunlight, Dr. Shams explores the darker dimensions of a wintry Beirut (seen through Jacques Bouquin's stunning cinematography) as he increasingly questions his own capacity for intimate violence. Titled Ruins in Arabic, this dream-like film suggests Beirut as a city continually searching for ways to forget its past, all the while unable to stem the slow bleed of of history back into the City's consciousness.

Director: Ghassan Salhab

Lebanon/France, 2006, 101 minutes

This screening is part of the Arab Film Festival. For details on the festival, please visit www.aff.org

This film is being shown together with the short film Garbage and the ticket price includes both films.

Cost : $10.00 general admission, $8.00 students/seniors

Sponsor(s): Arab Film Festival