The death of a famous Lebanese film director in Belgium
Director Burhan Alawiya died in Belgium at the age of 80, according to the official Lebanese news agency and close associates of the late, one of the Lebanese filmmakers who focused in their films on political and social issues.
And the National News Agency reported Thursday that Alawia "died last night in Brussels of a sudden heart attack, at the age of eighty, most of which was full of distinguished cinematic and television activities."
Seddik Burhan Alawia, director of the "Club for All People", which documents the Lebanese cinematic memory, Naga Al-Ashqar, said that the late "was ill and was regularly treated in the hospital every six months in Belgium."
He added, "When he entered the hospital this time two weeks ago, he was not afraid, but he was prepared for all possibilities, and his concern was to be buried in his hometown, Arnoun, in the district of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon," where he was born in 1941.
Al-Ashqar considered that Alawiya "was one of the last giants who made Lebanese cinema," adding, "With the absence of proof and other intellectuals of his generation falling one by one, we bid farewell to Lebanon a cultural, social and political stage."
Alawiya, who first studied political science at the Lebanese University, then graduated in 1973 in the field of film directing from the Higher National Institute of Display Arts and Broadcasting Technologies in Belgium, has a group of works that varied between fiction and documentary, in which he tackled political and social issues.
Among the most prominent of these films are "Kafr Qassem" (1975), which earned him Arab fame, "Beirut Al Gaqaa" (1981), "It is not enough for God to be with the poor" (1978), and "A Message from the Time of War" (1984), and "A Message from the Time of Exile" (1987), and "Aswan and the High Dam" (1990).
Naga Al-Ashqar noted that the titles of his films carry "flashes that reflect his being a poet, a thinker, and a broad-minded and knowledgeable person."
Alawiya worked as a lecturer at a number of Lebanese universities, including Saint Joseph University and the Lebanese University, and was chosen as a member of the Carthage, Casablanca, Brussels and other festivals.
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