Forget-Me-Not
The Short Film
Trailers
Synopsis
Lucas is a talented young musician. However, he suffers from an illness that keeps him from moving in life, awaiting his death. When Lea, Lucas’ best friend and another talented musician, tells him that she wants to try going abroad for her studies, Lucas isn’t thrilled at the idea. Can their friendship survive this difference in wants?
Movie Specifications
Film Title: Forget-Me-Not
Project Type: Short, Student
Genres: Drama, Coming-of-Age
Runtime: 20 minutes
Country of Origin: Lebanon
Language: Arabic
Subtitles: English (US), French (France)
Cast
Antoine El Khoury as Lucas
Yvona Finianos as Lea
Cyril Kokozaki as Jimmy
Credits
Miled Antoine Morkos: Director, Writer, Scorer, Editor
Nour Dimashkieh: Producer
Marianne Fayad: Assistant Director
Rayan Saad: Assistant Production
Yara Zbib: Script, Art Director
Dona Sarkis: Director of Photography
Cedrelle Bou Farhat: Sound Engineer
Elie Samra: Sound Designer
Moath Habli: Color Grader
Hussein Fneish: Color Grader
Yara Naccour: Assistant Art Director
Toufic El-Khoury: Consultant
Michel Doumit: Consultant
Selections and Awards
MARKET SCREENING Lift-Off First-Time Filmmaker Sessions Volume 6 June 2025 (Iver, United Kingdom)
MARKET SCREENING Lift-Off Filmmaker Sessions Volume 6 June 2025 (Iver, United Kingdom)
HONORABLE MENTION Films That Move Collection December 2025 (St. Andrew, Jamaica)
OFFICIAL SELECTION London Lift-Off Film Festival 2025 (London, United Kingdom)
ORIGINAL COMPOSITION MUSIC PIECE NOMINEE Promise We’ll Meet Again World Wave Music Festival 2025 (Hawaï, United States)
OFFICIAL SELECTION Lebanon Cinema Days in Canada 2026 (Montreal/Laval/Ottawa, Canada)
OFFICIAL SELECTION Lebanese Independent Film Festival 2026 (Beirut, Lebanon)
Beyond the Movie: a Letter from Anthony
When I think about complicated projects, Forget-Me-Not directly comes to mind. It was born at a delicate time in my life, and I quickly found myself pouring so much of myself into it that I ended up drowning in what I was writing. I remember exactly what I wanted: “do you know that bittersweet feeling you get when you finish a really good movie? That’s what I want people to feel.” And in all honesty, I’m still unsure if I achieved that goal or not. Forget-Me-Not is a very traditional movie, I wanted it to feel like a live-action anime, because of how in love I am with that medium, which ended up making it fall into that in-between where maybe the reception of the cinematography style would be very divided. Despite everything, despite the mistakes, I still love that movie. I love the people I got to work with, and I hope that someday this movie will reach its dream audience, even if it’s just one person. Lucas is a very selfish character, sabotaging Lea throughout the entirety of the movie for his own personal reasons. I cannot act like Lucas, but to say that I wouldn’t want to would be a lie. Since 2020, emigration in Lebanon has skyrocketed, and it left a very bitter feeling to a lot of places that became like haunted by the ghosts of people that went abroad. Friend groups became duos, families became just the parents. Forget-Me-Not is not for the ones leaving, rather for the ones being left behind. The people that now have a loved one size shaped hole in their life that they need to fill somehow. But we know we have no choice than to accept the ugly truth. This emotional dichotomy lives within the twin pieces: Arrival of Spring and Wildest Winter. Composing somewhat classical music was a new challenge for me, even more so that I wanted to create two pieces that can be listened to each on their own, with their own musical story, but can also be played simultaneously to create the one we hear at the end of the movie, which I titled “Promise We’ll Meet Again” (named after a working title for the movie). Arrival of Spring represents the sea of new opportunities that comes with the new life: it’s exciting, it’s bright, you get to choose who you are there, you become someone new. Yes it’s scary, but also necessary and a lot of fun. It’s gonna be okay, just breathe. Wildest Winter is on the other side of the curtain: it’s sad, almost mourning. It tries to hold on so much that it hurts, but it cannot stop holding on. But then, there is release, acceptance. It’s gonna be okay, just breathe.
