Sethrida Geagea

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Salma Hayek visits Lebanon to launch “The Prophet”

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Actress and film director Salma Hayek visited her ancestral homeland Lebanon for the first time on Sunday to launch “The Prophet,” a new animated feature film she co-produced.

Hayek, joined by Sethrida Geagea, visited the mountain village of Bcharre in northern Lebanon to pay tribute to Khalil Gibran, the Bcharre-born poet who wrote “The Prophet,” which the film is based on.

“Let us have a private moment in this place that we dreamt so long to be a part of,” Hayek said before entering the Gibran Museum.

“The Prophet,” written in 1923, has inspired generations of artists. The book, a series of poems about love, joy, sorrow, work and spirituality, has been translated into at least 40 languages.

Gibran also was a sculptor and a painter influenced by the English Romantics. He migrated to the United States in the late 1890s, dying there in 1931.

Hayek posed with one of Gibran’s towering sculptures outside the museum and dipped her feet in nearby mountain spring waters before visiting his tomb and viewing his work.

“The Prophet” director Roger Allers, who also directed Disney’s “The Lion King,” accompanied Hayek on the trip.

“I have been living with the spirit of Gibran for the last three years and it has been a very intimate experience and now to come to his home is very moving,” Allers said.

The film tells the story of a friendship between a young girl and an imprisoned poet. Quoting from Gibran’s book, Allers said: “‘Work is love made visible.’ And I really feel that about this movie.”

The film premieres April 30 in Lebanon. Distributor Mohammed Fadallah said it will be showing in 20 theaters here before going to the Gulf region and North Africa.

Hayek arrived Friday in Lebanon. The Mexican-American actress’ paternal grandfather was Lebanese and immigrated to Mexico.

A poster outside the museum bearing one of Gibran’s poems also welcomed her: “The children of my Lebanon, those who migrate with nothing but courage in their hearts and strength in their arms but who return with wealth in their hands and a wreath of glory upon their heads.”

Source: Associated Press

Mexican and American actress Salma Hayek, center, Lebanese legislator Setrida Geagea, left, and film director Roger Allers, right, stand for the Lebanese and Mexican national anthems during her visit at the museum of the famed Lebanese-born poet and philosopher Khalil Gibran in the northeast mountain town of Bcharre, Lebanon, Sunday, April 26, 2015. Hayek visited her ancestral homeland Lebanon to launch her latest film "The Prophet," a screen adaptation of the book by the same name written nearly a century ago by Gibran. Photo: Bilal Hussein, AP
Mexican and American actress Salma Hayek, center, Lebanese legislator Setrida Geagea, left, and film director Roger Allers, right, stand for the Lebanese and Mexican national anthems during her visit at the museum of the famed Lebanese-born poet and philosopher Khalil Gibran in the northeast mountain town of Bcharre, Lebanon, Sunday, April 26, 2015. Hayek visited her ancestral homeland Lebanon to launch her latest film “The Prophet,” a screen adaptation of the book by the same name written nearly a century ago by Gibran. Photo: Bilal Hussein, AP
Mexican and American Salma Hayek sits in front of a statue of Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran during her visit to his museum in the northeast mountain town of Bcharre, Lebanon, Sunday, April 26, 2015. Hayek visited her ancestral homeland Lebanon to launch her latest film "The Prophet," a screen adaptation of the book by the same name written nearly a century ago by the famed Lebanese-American poet and philosopher Gibran. Photo: Bilal Hussein, AP
Mexican and American Salma Hayek sits in front of a statue of Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran during her visit to his museum in the northeast mountain town of Bcharre, Lebanon, Sunday, April 26, 2015. Hayek visited her ancestral homeland Lebanon to launch her latest film “The Prophet,” a screen adaptation of the book by the same name written nearly a century ago by the famed Lebanese-American poet and philosopher Gibran. Photo: Bilal Hussein, AP
Mexican and American actress Salma Hayek signs the museum guest book during her visit at the museum of the famed Lebanese-born poet and philosopher Khalil Gibran in the northeast mountain town of Bcharre, Lebanon, Sunday, April 26, 2015. Hayek visited her ancestral homeland Lebanon to launch her latest film "The Prophet," a screen adaptation of the book by the same name written nearly a century ago by Gibran. Photo: Bilal Hussein, AP
Mexican and American actress Salma Hayek signs the museum guest book during her visit at the museum of the famed Lebanese-born poet and philosopher Khalil Gibran in the northeast mountain town of Bcharre, Lebanon, Sunday, April 26, 2015. Hayek visited her ancestral homeland Lebanon to launch her latest film “The Prophet,” a screen adaptation of the book by the same name written nearly a century ago by Gibran. Photo: Bilal Hussein, AP
Mexican and American actress Salma Hayek, second left, speaks with Lebanese legislator Setrida Geagea, second right, during her visit to Khalil Gibran's museum in the northeast mountain town of Bcharre, Lebanon, Sunday, April 26, 2015. Hayek visited her ancestral homeland Lebanon to launch her latest film "The Prophet," a screen adaptation of the book by the same name written nearly a century ago by the famed Lebanese-American poet and philosopher Gibran. Photo: Bilal Hussein, AP
Mexican and American actress Salma Hayek, second left, speaks with Lebanese legislator Setrida Geagea, second right, during her visit to Khalil Gibran’s museum in the northeast mountain town of Bcharre, Lebanon, Sunday, April 26, 2015. Hayek visited her ancestral homeland Lebanon to launch her latest film “The Prophet,” a screen adaptation of the book by the same name written nearly a century ago by the famed Lebanese-American poet and philosopher Gibran. Photo: Bilal Hussein, AP
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‘Friendly’ Meeting between Aoun, LF Delegates

A Lebanese Forces delegation met with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Saturday afternoon, and handed him over a copy of the LF leader’s presidential program.

The delegation included MPs Sethrida Geagea, Joseph al-Maalouf, Fadi Karam, former minister Toni Karam and member of the party’s Executive Committee Eddy Abi al-Lamaa.

MTV provided late on Saturday details on the “friendly” meeting between Aoun and the LF delegates.

It reported that the talks started with MP Geagea handing over the presidential program to Aoun, with a greeting from LF leader Samir Geagea.

“We hope that you would support his candidacy,” Sethrida Geagea told Aoun, who responded with a smile, according to MTV.

The FPM leader told Geagea that the final decision on whether he will run for office or not will be announced on Tuesday, after his Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting.

“My presidential program is focused only on securing stability,” Aoun remarked.

The meeting ended with both parties agreeing on attending Wednesday’s parliamentary session, and on supporting a “strong candidate who has a clear program.”

MP Geagea assured Aoun that the LF will be “the first to congratulate him if he wins in the presidential race, and that the party will stand by whomever becomes president.”

“I will also be the first to congratulate Geagea if he takes office,” Aoun responded, according to the same source.

LF officials have been holding talks with different parties and leaders in the country to hand them over LF leader Geagea’s presidential program, and to discuss the upcoming elections.

LF sources told MTV on Friday that a meeting with Hizbullah officials will be requested for the same purpose as well.

“We will request an appointment to meet with Hizbullah officials as well but we are not sure they will be responsive. But we are going to do what we have to do,” the sources said.

MTV said on Saturday that LF MP George Adwan is the person tasked with contacting Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal party over this matter.

On Wednesday, Geagea announced a presidential program that focused on “restoring the authority of the state against the proliferation of weapons during a time of regional unrest.”

The LF chief also called for a state monopoly on the use of force, including confronting Israel.

He is the sole politician to have officially announced his candidacy for the polls, which are first scheduled to be held on April 23.

Speaker Nabih Berri called on MPs to meet next Wednesday, although the election is not expected to be an easy process amid a lack of agreement on a consensual candidate.

President Michel Suleiman’s six-year tenure ends on May 25.

Source: Naharnet

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