July Trip

Waël Noureddine. 2006. Lebanon. vo Arabic, French. s English, Spanish. 35’

v Arabic s Spanish

v Arabic s English

Beirut, July 2006. Israeli bombings strike the city. While Beirut is still on fire, the filmmaker starts a journey across his native land. The film is not a documentary - although the images are burningly real - but an essay. Using two complementary techniques, 16 mm film and HDV, the artist questions the deep foundations of the documentary genre. The eye of the cameras goes through a country in a state of terror, it records the immediate effects of war when it touches civilians.

News images, curtains, shutters, darkness: everything hides life itself. In a poignant and harsh way, the artist shows another trip that unveils what lies under these screens: how can one face a war that won't tell its name? The trip starts for these young people with various drugs, before they roam between the ruins of their city. “Is there anybody there?” asks a man, as he lifts up the debris of their daily life. More than an escape, the trip would be here like a cry for life.