Diaries from Lebanon
Spring Grants 2021 - Production Stage
Myriam El Hajj / Feature Documentary / Lebanon, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar / 110 min / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Creative Documentary
Synopsis
In 2018, Joumana, a fiery feminist writer, poet and activist runs for election defying a political system that has been suffocating Lebanon for 40 years. She gets elected, only to be ousted the very next day through fraud, leaving her supporters furious. In 2019, the people’s rage turns into a revolution. The streets swell with thousands of voices. Among them Perla Joe, a fearless woman who rapidly becomes a symbol of this uprising. Her unyielding voice echoes the frustration of a youth struggling to find its place. But the past looms like a shadow over their aspirations for progress and change. Georges is the guardian of that mysterious and violent past. He is a veteran of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) where he lost a leg but clung to his delusions of “glory.”
In the form of diaries, the filmmaker narrates four tumultuous years of a nation in turmoil, battling to break free from its own chains. As the country is shaken by disruptions, personal quests for meaning and survival unfold. How can we continue to dream when the world around us is collapsing?
Credits
- Director
- Myriam El Hajj
- Screenwriter
- Myriam El Hajj
- Producer
- Myriam Sassine
- Production Company
- Abbout Productions
About the Director
Myriam el Hajj is a Lebanese filmmaker whose first feature documentary, A Time to Rest, premiered at Visions du Réel-Nyon in 2015 and screened at several international festivals, winning multiple awards. Her second feature documentary Diaries from Lebanon is set to premiere at Berlinale Panorama in 2024.' Additionally, Myriam teaches Cinema at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts. She’s a member of several film commissions, including the CNC and she’s a founding member of Rawiyat-Sisters in Film, a collective of women filmmakers from the Arab world and the diaspora.