Double Feature: A phoenix buried under its own ashes: more than 30 years of Destruction and Reconstruction of post-war Beirut.

Fri 22.04.
21:00

Cinema

Arsenal 1

Nos Guerres Imprudentes

Beirut, September 1994, It’s been now over four years since the civil war has ended. The systematic reconstruction of the city is only beginning. Randa Chahal Sabbag, a Lebanese filmmaker whose family has been politically and militarily involved in the conflict, gives a very personal view of fifteen years of war. She uses archives, family videos and 16 mm films shot between 1975 and 1994. The film features interviews with her mother in Tripoli, her sister in Paris and her brother in Beirut. She pays tribute to the memory of her father, who died during the war, and returns to the ruins of a city, the reconstruction of which marks the disappearance of a part of her life. (pf)

Re-Destruction

For over 4 decades now, Beirut has been running under crushing reconstruction policies, its inhabitants witnessing one displacement after the other. The explosion at the port of Beirut in August 2020 is a continuation of corrupt policies and a disastrous eviction process. Filmmaker Simon El Haber reflects on how illegal and arbitrary reconstruction schemes are continuing to change Beirut’s demography, leaving the city without its inhabitants. (pf)