Alto el Foc pel Líban #7

We present the latest session of ‘Films for a Ceasefire’ to continue raising awareness and encouraging action in response to the genocide being perpetrated by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people and its metastasis into neighboring communities. This time, we insist on the urgent need for a ceasefire and on condemning the crimes committed in Lebanon. We remain committed to keeping spaces open for collective mobilization in the face of impunity and indifference.

“Have we become tourists of a war which is ours and that has upended our lives, have we become so detached?” is an opening line from Lamia Joreige’s short film Nights and Days. At the time this film projection was conceived, the war on Lebanon had been raging in the South around the border with Israel for over two years; though the southern suburbs of Beirut were not spared, the Lebanese outside these areas continued living there lives, despite the continuous buzzing of drones, normalising it all, as if this was an unknown elsewhere.

In recent weeks, this fragile construct of normality has begun to crack. The new offensive has left hundreds of victims in its wake, along with the systematic destruction of community infrastructure. All of Beirut, as well as large areas of the south, are receiving threatening messages and displacement orders directly on their phones, issued by the Israel Defense Forces. Distance is no longer possible: the “spectator” condition fades away.

This evening is dedicated to the gaze of three Lebanese artists and filmmakers on the South, the beauty of its land, the horror of its recurrent battles, the relationship of its population with one another in the context of destruction and loss, more specifically here in the aftermath of the summer of 2006. Lamia Joreige takes us through a personal journey of her experience of that war, while Maher Abi Samra blurs time leaping back to references of a previous Israeli invasion alongside wordless scenes of devastation from that same summer. Ahmad Ghossein’s feature film brings forth human relations under extreme tensions, in a moment between a fierce war and a precarious ceasefire. 

We thank them for their solidarity, care and support.

Program
– Lamia Joreige, Nights and Days, 2007, 17 min
– Maher Abi Samra, Merely a Smell, 2007, 10 min
– Ahmad Ghossein, All This Victory, 2019, 93 min

Practical Information
Date: April 9
Venue: Sala Ricson
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Admission: 5 euros, here or at the door
Bar service available

Now, the extreme urgency and displacement of more than one million people forced to leave their homes in search of safety, food, and shelter. All funds raised will go toward emergency aid in Lebanon, channeled through trusted individuals and organizations operating on the ground. If you are unable to attend, you have the option to contribute by purchasing a ticket through this link.

This session has been organized in collaboration with curator and artist Mayssa Fattouh.

Image: Ahmad Ghossein, All This Victory, 2019 (film still)

Acknowledgements: Marwa Arsanios, Alfred Tarazi and Marfa’ Gallery