Jocelyne Saab
Beyrouth, jamais plus (Beirut, Never Again)
Courtisane: Out of the Shadows
35'
-
1976
-
Dialogue:
Arabic, French
Director:
Jocelyne Saab
Gunfire and song mix with a poetic voice-over written by the Lebanese writer and painter Etel Adnan (who also wrote
a text for Letter from Beirut) in what would become the first
entry in Saab’s “Beirut Trilogy”, which searches for traces
of life amid the bombed-out buildings and errant fires of a
ghost city, where even the children have become soldiers,
looters, and scavengers.
Gunfire and song mix with a poetic voice-over written by the Lebanese writer and painter Etel Adnan (who also wrote a text for Letter from Beirut) in what would become the first entry in Saab’s “Beirut Trilogy”, which searches for traces of life amid the bombed-out buildings and errant fires of a ghost city, where even the children have become soldiers, looters, and scavengers.
“This film marks a turning point. It’s a wandering drift through a destroyed Beirut. To express my sensitivity to a
country that I love and that has been destroyed, I asked
the Lebanese poet Etel Adnan to write the commentary.
Our two sensibilities found one another. This commentary
was surprising to many because it doesn’t respect the rules
of reportage. It’s a poem expressing personal impressions
that could be those of all Lebanese.”
Image gallery
Credits
Director
Jocelyne Saab
More information
Dialogue
Arabic, French
Countries of production
Lebanon, France
Year
1976
