Lebanon
Holy Lands: Sectarianism in the Middle East
Sectarian divides increasingly fuel conflict across the diverse countries of the Middle East, spilling over borders and contributing to ongoing violence in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere. Yet in the nineteenth century the region was considerably more tolerant than Western Europe at the time; a high degree of religious pluralism and self-determination were permitted across the Ottoman Empire’s wide-reaching territories. We will be joined by The Economist‘s Jerusalem correspondent Nicolas Pelham and others to discuss the roots of sectarian violence – as well as hopes for recovery from conflict and a return to plurality.
Screening – This is Exile: Diaries of Child Refugees + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Mani Benchelah.
Over the course of a year, Emmy Award-winning director Mani Benchelah made this intimate portrait of Syrian refugee children forced to flee from the violence of civil war to neighbouring Lebanon. It tells the stories of the children’s lives in their own words and captures the moving truth of how they deal with loss, hardship and dashed hopes.
Gordon Brown, Julia Gillard & Kevin Watkins Discuss Funding Education for Syrian Child Refugees
By Charlotte Beale United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined chair of the Global Partnership for Education and former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Overseas Development Institute’s Executive Director Kevin Watkins at the Frontline Club on 25 January 2016 to discuss Funding for Syrian Child Refugees, on […]
Yallah!: Underground Music in the Middle East
By Ratha Lehall On Monday 16 November, the Frontline Club hosted a screening of the documentary Yallah! Underground, a vibrant look at a diverse groups of Arab artists and musicians using culture to challenge the status quo. The film is set in the years prior to and during the Arab spring, and focuses on artists from […]
Screening: Yallah! Underground + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Farid Eslam via Skype.
From the early days of the Arab Spring that sparked hopes for change to the years of instability and political tension that followed, this enthralling documentary follows the stories of young prominent underground artists from across the Middle East during the period of 2009 to 2013.
Screening: A Syrian Love Story + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Sean McAllister.
Amer, 45, met Raghda, 40, in a Syrian prison cell 15 years ago. Over months they communicated through a tiny hole they’d secretly made in the wall. They fell in love and when released, married and started a family together. This film tells the poignant story of their family torn apart by the tyrannical Assad dictatorship.
Cruel Journeys: Shorts on Migration
By George Symonds “Where can I go to have a decent life?” On Friday 11 June, Shorts at the Frontline Club took viewers on a cinematic journey that showcased the different ways used to document the world we live in. The theme: migration and the phases of migration. Two at the Border by Tuna Kaptan and Felicitas […]
Screening: First to Fall + Q&A
In 2011, director Rachel Beth Anderson followed two friends who abandoned their peaceful lives in Canada and returned to their home country of Libya to fight in the revolution. Hamid (26) and Tarek (21) had never fired a gun, but in 2011 they ran recklessly towards war, fuelled by their hatred of Muammar Gaddafi and their desire to be part of history. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with co-directors Rachel Beth Anderson and Tim Grucza.
Blurred Borders: The Consequences of Over-Spill from Conflict in Syria
by Sally Ashley-Cound On Thursday 6 February at the Frontline Club, Dan Smith, secretary general of International Alert, chaired a panel which discussed the impact of the war in Syria on the surrounding states.
‘A World Not Ours’ – And A Story That Now Is
By Lizzie Kendal On Friday 7 February, the Frontline Club was fully booked and the audience buzzed with anticipation for the screening of A World Not Ours followed by a Q&A with director Mahdi Fleifel, editor Michael Aaglund and a last-minute addition of producer Patrick Campbell. The film is set in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain […]
Preview Screening: A World Not Ours + Q&A
Filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel spent his formative years in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh in Lebanon. Each time he went back to the camp for his summer holidays he kept video diaries. As an adult he returns, challenging his teenage belief that ‘going to Ain el-Helweh is better than going to Disney Land’. A World Not Ours is an intimate, and often humorous, portrait of three generations of exile, based on a wealth of personal recordings, family archives, and historical footage. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Mahdi Fleifel and editor Michael Aaglund.
Screening: It’s all in Lebanon
It’s all in Lebanon is a journey through modern Lebanon, a country torn between contradictions. Wissam Charaf explores the significance of the image in Lebanese society, showing opposing campaigns of political movements, Hezbollah videos of heroic martyred fighters and music videos of high-heeled, scarcely dressed pop stars.
Assad: Western idealism and Eastern autocracy
“I would be more pessimistic if I had to rewrite the last sentences,” said Christophe Ayad, co-director of Syria: Assad’s Twilight.
CANCELLED Screening: Zero Silence
Before any political revolution was in sight in the middle east, filmmakers Javeria Rizvi Kabani, Jonny von Walstrom and Alexandra Sandels visited Egypt, Tunisia, and Lebannon to witness the network revolutions already taking place. Following young activists, journalists, and bloggers we learn that silence is no longer an option among those with access to the new digital tools and networks created in the last few years.
World Premiere: Jasad & the Queen of Contradictions
Jasad and the Queen of Contradictions is a documentary about Lebanese poet and writer Joumana Haddad who has stirred controversy in the Middle East for having founded “Jasad” (the Body), a cultural quarterly Arabic-language magazine. Dedicated to the body’s art, science and literature, “Jasad” is one of the first of its kind in the Arab world.
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 7 – 13 November
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 7 November to Sunday, 13 November from ForesightNews By Nicole Hunt Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, goes on trial in Paris on Monday accused of complicity in the deaths of 11 people. The charges relate to bombings in France in 1982 and 1983. […]
In the Picture – Kate Brooks: A decade on the front line
A youthful Kate Brooks moved to Pakistan after September 11th 2001 to document the conflicts that flared in the region and make a name for herself as a photojournalist. Her new book, In the Light of Darkness, records the major conflicts in the Arab world in the past decade, from the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan, to this year’s Arab Spring. The event will be moderated by freelance journalist Ramita Navai.
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 25-31 July
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 25 July to Sunday, 31 July from ForesightNews The week starts off with two high-profile court hearings on Monday. Former Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al Adly is scheduled to go on trial in Cairo on charges of ordering the deaths of protesters, but the hearing has been […]
Tensions rise but Lebanon’s only invasion is by tourists
The sun is shining and Beirut’s streets are busier than ever. Thousands of Europeans and Americans have gambled on the New York Times’ recommendation, Arabs from the Gulf have tightened their belts and chosen to vacation closer to home, and CNN is running reports on Beirut being the best party city in the world. Times […]
Former captive warns of reporting risks on return to Beirut
Terry Anderson, former hostage and AP bureau chief in Beirut, returned to Lebanon this week to give a talk on the ‘global hazards of reporting’ at the Issam Fares Centre. Anderson, who was kidnapped in 1985 and held for six years and nine months, spoke eloquently for over an hour about his kidnapping, the dangers […]
The ‘Obama effect’ and Hezbollah’s election tactics
Newsflash: It is possible that people can make up their minds without help from Barack Obama. Especially in the Middle East. So it’s particularly odd that after Lebanon went to the polls and reelected the ruling March 14 coalition, analysts in the UK and US are heaping praise on the American president for seeing off […]
Sharek961: Lebanon monitors its own elections
With just three days to go before the elections here, Beirut’s airport has been busy receiving observers from across the world – the most high profile of them being former US President Jimmy Carter. But one new project is hoping to reinforce the teams from the US, the EU and the Arab League by enlisting […]
Ibrahim Essa wins 2008 Gebran Tueni Award
Ibrahim Essa, editor of Al Dustour, has won the 2008 Gebran Tueni Award. The annual award honours Gebran Tueni, the Lebanese publisher who was killed in a Beirut car bomb in 2005 and is presented by the World Association of Newspapers and aims to recognise an editor or publisher in the Arab region, Al Dustour […]
Journalists held in Syria
The two journalists who were reported missing in Lebanon yesterday are reportedly being held by Syrian Immigration authorities according to Al-Jazeera, Two Americans reported missing by the U.S. embassy in Lebanon are being held in Syria for entering the neighboring country without visas, Arab media reported on Thursday. Doha-based Al Jazeera television said Holli Chmela, […]
Doing journalism in Lebanon
Menassat has the low down on the difficulties working in Hezbollah-controlled territory in Lebanon. Detentions and iterrogation of foreign journalists is on the rise. Haji Wafa of Hezbollah’s press office tries to explain, David Hury, a French journalist, was detained on August 12, taken to different locations and questioned for six hours about his professional […]
Mona Alami on Lebanese media
Mona Alami, a Beirut based French-Lebanese journalist, writing for the Inter Press Service describes the failings of Lebanese media outlets. Assassinations, physical threats, political pressure, biased reporting, lack of professionalism, rampant corruption and self-censorship are what she calls the seven deadly sins of Lebanese newsrooms, The most severe [sin] is undoubtedly the killing of prominent […]
Celebratory Gunfire
Some audio from my recent trip to Beirut. This is what celebratory gunfire from within a densely-populated urban centre sounds like – the Lebanese ‘government’ reversed two decisions that had provoked Hezbollah to take over much of Beirut, and people were pretty happy. As always, there were casualties from the large amounts of falling lead […]
Interview with Alex Strick van Linschoten
Frontline blogger Alex gets interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live – great bit of insight into how one the Frontline bloggers operates, where he goes, how he approaches work and travel. Worth a listen.
BBC Radio 5 Interview
This link will take you to an MP3 of my interview yesterday with Chris Vallance on my way home from the airport. Light listening.
Crossroads
“Abu Skandar, who always drives by the university when he comes to Cairo from Heliopolis, has made this passegiata into his personal polling sample to measure the progress or regression of Islamic veiling. I secretly suspect him of privileging the qualitative aspect of the investigation over its strictly quantitative dimensions. In his defense, it is […]