Little Eagles

Waltz with Bashir

2008 · ★ 7.7

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.

Shi'a Echoes from Lebanon

2007

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.

It's All in Lebanon

2012 · ★ 5.2

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

A Letter from Beirut

1978 · ★ 6.8

Letter from Beirut documents the filmmaker's return to Beirut during one of the lulls, three years after the outbreak of the civil war, animated by the urge to return. She is confronted by the physical, emotional and psychological ravages of the war, terrified and sorrowful, she cannot find her place in the city. In that quest, she communicates with everyday people, friends, neighbors, people riding the bus across the city's eastern and western flanks. To pace her journeying and dramatic unraveling of the film, Saab borrows the guise of a letter read in a voice-over, written by world-renowned poet Etel Adnan. A rare document from the civil war, Letter from Beirut lays bare and spontaneously how people make sense of their everyday in the midst of chaos, violence, terror and sorrow.

Asma

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

Measures of Distance

1988 · ★ 6.7

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.

untitled

2021

a state that used religion to control the mass. the mass reduced politics to the personal (social and domestic). religious shrines became political. And political figures became the new god. meanwhile, lebanon is collapsing. in this film, we are roaming within the lebanon with three individuals that are living the consequences of a failed state.

Eldorado

2018 · ★ 5.8

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 Mountain

2020

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.

The Last Baron

2021 · ★ 10

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.

Minerva

2021

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.

A Letter from a Time of War

1984 · ★ 8

Filmed in Beirut in the Spring of 1984, in many ways a letter about warfront.