Synopsis
Days after the massacre in Karantina, a predominantly Muslim shanty town in Beirut, Jocelyne Saab finds and meets children who have escaped, and who are deeply traumatized by the horrific fighting they have seen with their own eyes. Jocelyne gives the children crayons and encourages them to draw while her camera rolls. She makes a bitter discovery: the only games the children engage in are war games. The war would quickly become a way of life for them as well.
It was in 1976. The massacre took place in Karantina, a neighbourhood in Beirut. The combatants drank champagne over the corpses. They talked about “deratting” this bidonville at the outskirts of Beirut. What language can we choose to talk to children when they have just escaped a massacre? How can we approach them without turning them into circus animals? But also, what can we do for these Lebanese and Palestinian children who have been scarred? How can we hold out a hand of hope?
Words collected by Zahraa Mortada in Beirut in 2011.
