Projects in development
The Marches
Synopsis
In a land unraveling after years of collapse, Joyce—one of few archaeologists still working in Lebanon—finds her own foundations fracturing. The losses and estrangements in her life have undermined her certainties, leaving her struggling to make sense of a new reality. When a sprawling cave is uncovered in an ancient necropolis, Joyce is sent to survey the site. In the borderlands, she hires Suha, a 19-year-old villager, to assist her. Suha’s natural aptitude revives Joyce’s sense of purpose. As she gradually takes to mentoring the young woman, Joyce is pulled into the tangled politics of the village and entwined with the darker forces shaping Suha’s world. Tensions escalate, reshaping their fragile bond and altering the course of both their lives.
ESCAALA (France)
Gabrielle Dumon
Abbout Productions (Lebanon)
Georges Schoucair & Antoine Waked
Director’s statement
I began developing The Marches nearly nine years ago. Although the narrative and characters evolved, the core remained: to interrogate the present through archaeology. As Lebanon descended into one of its darkest periods—economic collapse, the Beirut Port explosion, a new war—the project changed in tandem. Writing became a way to contend with absurdity, to seek clarity in a reality that defied reason. The shock of events unsettled every layer of society, leaving nothing unquestioned—from one’s own values to the very capacity to reason—in an effort to comprehend the path that led here. What began as an investigative drama transformed into a broader undertaking: archaeology as a discipline and the chronic crises of Lebanon demanded a more rigorous exploration, one that also considered the existential dimensions of both. The project became a reflection on archaeology, personal and collective pasts, and continuity.
Biographies
Vatche Boulghourjian’s debut feature Tramontane (2016) premiered in La Semaine de la Critique at the Festival de Cannes, screened at more than 100 festivals worldwide, and won multiple awards. He holds an MFA from New York University’s Graduate Film Program, where his thesis was selected for La Cinef at Cannes. He has worked across the Middle East as a documentary cameraperson. He is an alum of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and an Oxbelly fellow. His recent work includes two six-hour projects about Byblos and the archaeology of Bronze Age hypogea.
After obtaining a double master’s degree and working on a dozen short films as a script supervisor, in 2001 Gabrielle Dumon started working at ACE, a unique network of European producers that provides tailor-made support for development and financing. During her seven years at ACE, she worked with 130 producers on more than 400 international feature-length projects. In 2008, she joined Le Bureau, a production company based in Paris and London, where she became a partner in 2011 and where she produced Sky (2015), which was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival; Tramontane (2016), which was presented in La Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes’ Sollers Point (2017), which screened at the San Sebastián International Film Festival; We Are from There (2020), a selection of the International Film Festival Rotterdam; Digger (2020), which was presented in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival; After Love (2020), another selection of La Semaine de la Critique; and The Permanent Picture (2023), which was presented in competition at the Locarno Film Festival. Dumon has been working on a freelance basis since 2022, most recently producing The Permanent Picture (2023), which was presented at Locarno, as well as Jane Austen Wrecked My Life (2024) and Sink (2025), both selected at TIFF.
Founding CEO of Abbout Productions, Georges Schoucair has produced critically acclaimed award-winning films and actively contributed to the establishment of the film industry in Lebanon. He is also a co-founder of MC Distribution and VP of Metropolis, the only arthouse cinema in Beirut.
