+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 9 September | 18.00 h, 20.00 h, 22.00 h Cinema Libanon: Charity Screening Entrance: euro 10,- | combination ticket euro 25,- Location: De Balie, Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, Amsterdam URL: www. balie.nl

With introductions by Pierre Sarraf (director Né à Beyrouth) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lebanon, and more specifically Beirut, still conjure two very dichotomous and cliché images in the West: either the lamented former glory of the pearl of the Middle East, or the atrocities of a 15-year protracted civil war. With the media saturation of the recent war between Israel and Hizbullah still fresh, and the shaky promise of a brittle ceasefire, Lebanon once again risks to fall prey to stereotyping. In defiance of the war and in solidarity with the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, De Balie organises an evening of films, documentaries and videos by Lebanese makers, in collaboration with the Lebanese production house and film festival Né à Beyrouth. The selection of films are testimony to the resistance of Lebanese artists to a historical and cultural amnesia, and show that being rooted in contemporary Lebanon is as much a commemoration of an untold past, as it is a reflection on and of the present.

With thanks to: Pierre Sarraf (Né à Beyrouth), Joanna Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Celluloid Dreams, Akram Zaatari, and other participating artists. Ticket sale donated to humantiarian relief causes in Lebanon.

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