Sons of Sunday

Lebanon, France
Producer: Rita Dagher
Production Company: Senorita Films

Project Logline:

In Sons of Sunday, one murder irrevocably changes the lives of three young men, nearly strangers, trying to survive the crime-riddled underbelly of post-war Beirut.

Hamza: In the dilapidated, inner-city outskirts, spends his days loitering the streets with his gang of friends and his close friend Reda. One day, two feared mobsters from his neighborhood invite him into their world of organized crime. For the first time in his life, Hamza finds himself with a car, a job, exposure to Beirut’s upper echelon, and a coveted way out of his hard-knock life in the outskirts.

Danny: At first glance, Danny is Hamza’s polar opposite: polished, well-educated, hailing from the upscale. He works with his father, who gives him money to start his own business. Like Hamza, however, Danny’s lifestyle is predetermined by social class and upbringing, widened only when he has an affair with Reda, Hamza’s best friend from the other side of town‫.

Kassem: Kassem lives in Hamza’s neighborhood but works for Danny’s family business, thereby straddling socioeconomic, cultural, and religious lines. An introverted, comical loner type, Kassem awkwardly navigates: Beirut’s multilayered social strata, dysfunctional but loving family, the workplace, (very shy) interactions with women, and his own violent inner-city neighborhood.
One evening, on his way home from a company party thrown by Danny’s family, Kassem spots Hamza hit by a bullet in his knee returning back home.

          
Director/writer Rami Kodeih, born on May 27, 1983, completed his bachelor and master’s degree from Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts as the second person in the school’s to graduate summa cum laude, for is short film A Sheherazade Tale (Official selection at Clermond Ferrand 2008, Best Arab Film Jordan Short Film festival 2007). He also wrote and directed another short film The Mill (2nd Prize at the Beirut Film Festival 2010, Short Film Corner at the Cannes Festival 2010, Namur Film Festival 2010). Since he graduated he directs corporate films and documentaries for Al Jazeera and often collaborates with Nora Salim.