May 2023
Randa Chahal Sabbag
A key figure in Lebanese cinema, as both a documentary filmmaker and a director of fictional narratives, Randa Chahal Sabbag was born in Tripoli, Lebanon in 1953, to a Christian mother and a Sunni Muslim father, both militants involved in the local communist party. It was her father who introduced Chahal to the cinema, at…
, 1979
, 80 min
Synopsis: This film is the result of two years of work, from February 1976 to March 1978. Through its analysis, and through certain documents, it looks beyond the period to grasp at the remote causes of the conflict. It attempts to draft a timeline of events: the dismemberment of Lebanon, the liquidation of the Palestinian movement,…
, 1992
, 90 min
Synopsis: A city emerges in the middle of the desert and dies in its richness. Women are doubly veiled, and freedoms are even more threatened. Sarah was born the day after the oil boom. She is part of the generation that believes it can get anything with the power of money, and that simultaneously sees its…
, 2000
, 97 min
Synopsis: During the civil war, some Lebanese fled to Europe, leaving their large apartments, luxurious houses, and their servants: Sri Lankans, Filipinos, Egyptians “imported” to serve by the thousands. These and many more must deal with the maverick who controls the building, its occupants, the neighborhood, and a few areas of the city. Their lives intersect:…
, 1995
, 68 min
Synopsis: Beirut, September 1994. With the civil war, which started in 1975, having ended just two years before, the systematic reconstruction of the city begins. Coming from a family which has been politically and militarily involved in the conflict, Chahal depicts seventeen years of war in a very personal way. She uses her own archives, family…
, 2001
, 57 min
Synopsis: This film follows Souha Béchara’s return to her village, Deir Mimas, to the Khiam jail, in the very place where she tried to assassinate General Lahd, the head of the South Lebanon Army, an auxiliary of the Israeli Army. For Souha, SURVIVING HELL is a joyful, thoughtful, and liberating travel diary. The diary of a…
