UNDER THE BOMBS

Zeina lives in Dubai. In the midst of her divorce she sends her son Karim to stay with her sister in Kherbet Selem, a village in southern Lebanon, so that he will not witness his parents’ quarrels. A few days later, war breaks out. Zeina travels via Turkey to Lebanon, but because of the blockade she reaches the port of Beirut only on the day of the ceasefire. There she finds Tony, the only taxi driver willing to drive her south. Philippe Aractingi’s “Under the Bombs” (Lebanon 2007) follows the two of them on their journey through a devastated country, in search of the child.

Aractingi filmed in Beirut during the war of summer 2006 and in the south immediately after the ceasefire; the film is half documentary, half fiction – a road movie amid real rubble, with people who had just lived through what they are playing. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 2 September 2007; it subsequently screened, among other places, in Dubai, where it won the Golden Muhr and the award for best actress, and in Sundance. “Under the Bombs” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2008.

Shown at the 2008 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2008 · Film Archive