The start of the civil war in Lebanon was a determining factor in Jocelyne Saab (1948-2019) taking up filmmaking. She had already started her career as a war reporter in Egypt, Libya and her own country when she began filming the documentaries that made up the Beirut trilogy. Through this, historical violence became the centrepiece of her work, which documents, reflects on and combats it. Lyrical and committed, her cinema is a matrix, a founder of Lebanese cinema, but pushing the boundaries, establishing her documentaries as masterpieces in the essay-film genre. The poetry that runs through her shots, unveiling the horror, and the intimacy and modesty in dealing with the exiled, displaced and "voiceless" are Saab's hallmarks. It's a Beirut wounded to the core – here too "the house is black", as the Iranian Forugh Farrokhzad filmed – but where life goes on, resisting amidst the rubble. (Maria do Carmo Piçarra).
Speakers: Ana Naomi de Sousa, Dima Mohammed
Moderator: Maria do Carmo Piçarra