simone el habre’s highly personal film about semaan, his highly unconventional uncle is set and beautifully shot (in HD-CAM) in the lebanese mountains (ain el hazaroun). it’s a poignant, lyrical, poetic, beautifullyl lit ‘family home video’ radically reinvented for a digital age.
semaan’s magnetic pull contributes greatly to the power of one man village but it is simone’s tender approach to his subject that makes the masterfully crafted documentary what it is. a singular vision of singular world where semaan who hogs the screen for most of the film, runs a one man farm and treats his animals as surrogate family members.
there’s a particulalry memorable scene where semaan is embarrassed when asked about love and his love life (he’ll marry when he’s finished building the bathroom he says fobbing the question) that brings to fore the fascinating insider-outsider status of the filmmakers and subject. this sincere almost-invisible filmed familial familarity is undeniably a prime factor in the doc’s success. it will be interesting to see how / what simone follows this up with.
filmed over three years one man village is an example of a new type of digital technology enabled film making that i think will be a major trend in the coming decades: enabling (increasingly well-crafted) minor (but of immense artistic merit), personal film projects (but with a global niche market).
at the post-screening q&a simone discussed briefly how he started making the film and then traveled to diff where he secured further funding (via dubai film connection) to complete it- great to see diff following through on its initial promise to create these types of opportunities for burgeoning filmmakers.
one of the 2008 dubai film festival’s highlights.