Lebanon Summer 2006

‘Lebanon Summer 2006′ is a 52-minute documentary about the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, told from the Lebanese point of view. Factual and uncompromising, it provides a fresh perspective on life in the Middle East. The film presents Hezbollah – the main Lebanese actor in the recent crisis – for what it is: a militant and religious Islamist party, but also a resistance movement and a social actor at the forefront of contemporary Lebanese society.’Lebanon Summer 2006′ underscores the discrepancy between the reality of life in Lebanon and the grievous and dehumanizing misconceptions that prevail throughout Europe and North America. Though humorous at times, the film respects the seriousness of its subject and the tragedy endured by the Lebanese people. Powerful and disturbing, this story also offers some avenues for the future, some glimmers of hope.’Lebanon Summer 2006’ gives the floor to the Lebanese, a strangely original idea given that they seem to have been forgotten by modern history and, worse, sacrificed in the name of politics not of their making and out of their control. This is not just a simple assessment of the country’s situation after being destroyed by the Israeli military. It is the faithful depiction of the impact of the war on a group of Christian, Sunni and Shia witnesses who lived through the chaos. Celebrities, scholars, and ordinary citizens describe the impact of this war on themselves and their loved ones. Through their poignant testimony, we gain a deeper understanding of this society, a delicate mosaic of Eastern and Western, traditional and vanguard modern – in short, a microcosm of the world today.