A Letter from a Time of War

Wissam Charaf traces the recent history and identity of Lebanon through its political campaigns, PR imagery and pop videos.

July 2006. Another war breaks out in Lebanon. The directors decide to follow a movie star, Catherine Deneuve and a friend, actor and artist Rabih Mroue;, on the roads of South Lebanon. Together, they will drive through the regions devastated by the conflict. It is the beginning of an unpredictable, unexpected adventure...

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

Architecture in Beirut was the second greatest victim of the civil war, with pages of ancient and modern history erased by the end of the conflict. This documentary interviews citizens calling for a reconstruction plan that would preserve Beirut’s spirit of culture and openness.

WINE and WAR is a documentary about one of the the oldest winemaking regions on earth and the resilience of the Lebanese entrepreneurial spirit seen through the lens of war and instability.

This political documentary by Hady Zaccak delves into the world of Lebanese Shiites through interviews with three Shiite youths, each with a different political and ideological affiliation, in addition to a very valuable interview with late Shiite cleric Sayyed Hani Fahs. The documentary explores the Shiites’ relation to Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburb, a Shiite stronghold, as well as the difference between the political and social perspectives of these youths.

“Al Makhtufun” won the 1998 Best Short Documentary Film Award at the Mediterranean Film Festival for highlighting the issue of abducted Lebanese. The film raises two major issues: The abductee’s physical absence and his spiritual presence among his family members, and the parents silently wishing his return. The documentary looks at documents kept by Wadad, a mother who decides to step outside her comfort zone and share her papers and forms when other parents would not.

Directed by Bahij Hojeij, “Lebanon, Message from a Holy Land” visits Lebanon’s many ancient Christian holy sites. The documentary focuses especially on the Qadisha Valley, home to several historical monastaries and very old Christian churches.

Bahij Hojeij’s documentary studies the infamous Green Line between east and west Beirut during the civil war.

Beirut, Lebanon's capital has a long history of political and social unrest that still makes headlines today. Globe Trekker's Beirut City Guide captures the city in more optimistic days, two weeks before the latest outbreak of hostilities in Lebanon between Israeli and Hezbollah forces in July 2006. Globe Trekker Megan McCormick explores the neighborhoods of Basta, Solidere, Gemayze and the Hezbollah District and finds a city in the midst of regeneration. She gets a glimpse at Beirut's future when meeting up with a group of young Arabic hip hop artists, who are eager to live in peace and put the country's political troubles in the past.

As the Syrian war continues to leave entire generations without education, health care, or a state, Lost in Lebanon closely follows four Syrians during their relocation process. The resilience of this Syrian community, which currently makes up one fifth of the population in Lebanon, is astoundingly clear as its members work hard to collaborate, share resources, and advocate for themselves in a new land. With the Syrian conflict continuing to push across borders, lives are becoming increasingly desperate due to the devastating consequences of new visa laws that the Lebanese government has implemented, leaving families at risk of arrest, detention, and deportation. Despite these obstacles, the film encourages us to look beyond the staggering statistics of displaced refugees and focus on the individuals themselves.

The apocalyptic blast in the Port of Beirut, Lebanon, on August 4, 2020, exacerbates anger at those in power: protests cross religious boundaries as the Lebanese people curse corruption, nepotism, gross economic mismanagement and squandering of resources. How did the Land of Cedars, a country with so much to offer, allow itself to get into such a dire situation? And will it be able to bounce back?

In this video, the artist tries to overcome the effects of distance, and reflects on geography represented in exile due to war, and on the psychological distance represented in each one’s approach to her womanhood. The video beautifully weaves personal images and audio recordings of a very intimate nature, binding the personal with the political. Reading aloud from letters sent by her mother in Beirut, Hatoum creates a visual montage reflecting her feelings of separation and isolation from her Palestinian family. The personal and political are inextricably bound in a narrative that explores personal and family identity against a backdrop of traumatic social rupture, exile and displacement.

While living in a deserted valley in eastern Lebanon, seven-year-old Rahaf describes the wonders of her past, present and future – without knowing the limits of her own imagination.

A Beqaa Valley refugee camp is seen through the eyes of Asma, an 11-year-old Syrian girl.

Severely battered from the Beirut Port Explosion on August 4th, Minerva passed away eight days later. Her son Joseph, while still grieving for his loss, sunk into a long and absurd bureaucratic path through the inept system that disowned his mother as a victim of the blast. Minerva is gone. The explosion has snatched her soul, and the city walls have not yet recognized her as a martyr. There is no poster of her smiling face among those of the victims. Their faces are memories that will haunt us for the rest of our lives. Perhaps her son, devastated by her passing, seeks to etch her image into the city's memory. Perhaps he is seeking some confession to the crime. This is a place that casts out its children, whether dead or alive.

Drawing inspiration from his personal encounter with the Italian refugee child Giovanna during World War II, Markus Imhoof tells how refugees and migrants are treated today: on the Mediterranean Sea, in Lebanon, in Italy, in Germany and in Switzerland.

The meaty saga of Burger Baron, a rogue fast-food chain with mysterious origins and a cult following, run by a loose network of fiercely independent Arab Canadian immigrants.

Eccomi ... Eccoti unfolds as a virtual road trip navigating between Italy and Lebanon. Conditioned to live in a long-distance relationship with his partner because of strict European visa regulations, the director patches together the shared moments in an attempt to create a possible day-to-day reality for their couple. With a lyrical, ambient soundscape set atop a dreamy, atmospheric visual style that oscillates between still photography and moving images, the film explores what it means to be gay in contemporary Beirut and existential discomfort that blocks one from reaching a sense of complete-ness. Does such in-completeness have to do, in particular, with being gay? Or is it related to a grander malaise endemic to the human condition?

In an unprecedented and candid series of interviews, six former heads of the Shin Bet — Israel's intelligence and security agency — speak about their role in Israel's decades-long counterterrorism campaign, discussing their controversial methods and whether the ends ultimately justify the means.