Zawya Cinema to screen Lebanon civil war documentary ‘Green Line'
As a child, Fida was shaped by her grandmother's haunting recollections of the conflict, often referred to as the 'Red Hell.' Now an adult, she revisits those memories and confronts the question of how to value life amid the chaos of war. Rather than taking up arms, Fida chooses art as her form of resistance, using delicately crafted miniatures to reconstruct her wartime experiences and challenge those who once fought with real weapons.
The film opens with animated scenes using figurines to recreate Fida's childhood, before shifting into a documentary format. In a powerful and emotionally charged sequence, Fida engages in direct conversations with former militiamen, inviting them to manipulate the same figurines in a shared re-enactment of the past. These miniature objects become tools for dialogue, blending subjective recollections with broader historical truths. The result is a deeply introspective and cathartic journey through shifting layers of memory, reality, and time.
Green Line is both a personal story and a broader meditation on trauma, reconciliation and the role of art in healing. Co-written by Ballyot and Fida Bizri, the film is produced by Céline Loiseau, Jean-Laurent Csinidis and Luc Camilli. Its visual and emotional impact is heightened by cinematography from Béatrice Kordon and Ballyot herself, with editing by Charlotte Tourrès and sound design by Tatiana El Dadah, Luc Meilland and Jocelyn Robert. The score, composed by Meilland, Kamilya Jubran and Ballyot, underscores the film's haunting reflections.
At its core, Green Line is a bold exploration of memory and confrontation, bringing together personal narrative and collective history through a unique artistic lens.
The film is a French-Lebanese co-production, bringing together TS Productions (Paris) led by Céline Loiseau, Jean-Laurent Csinidis' Films du Force Majeure (Marseille), Luc Camilli's Xbox Films (Toulouse), and Sabine Sidawi's Orjouane Productions (Lebanon). It was made possible with support from a range of funding bodies, including France's CNC, the regions of Normandie, Occitanie, Sud and Île-de-France, as well as the Doha Film Institute.
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Zawya Cinema is set to screen Green Line, a documentary by French director Sylvie Ballyot, on August 2 and August 5. The film delves into the personal and political memory of Lebanon's civil war through the eyes of Fida Bizri, an artist who grew up in Beirut during the 1980s. As a child, Fida was shaped by her grandmother's haunting recollections of the conflict, often referred to as the 'Red Hell.' Now an adult, she revisits those memories and confronts the question of how to value life amid the chaos of war. Rather than taking up arms, Fida chooses art as her form of resistance, using delicately crafted miniatures to reconstruct her wartime experiences and challenge those who once fought with real weapons. The film opens with animated scenes using figurines to recreate Fida's childhood, before shifting into a documentary format. In a powerful and emotionally charged sequence, Fida engages in direct conversations with former militiamen, inviting them to manipulate the same figurines in a shared re-enactment of the past. These miniature objects become tools for dialogue, blending subjective recollections with broader historical truths. The result is a deeply introspective and cathartic journey through shifting layers of memory, reality, and time. Green Line is both a personal story and a broader meditation on trauma, reconciliation and the role of art in healing. Co-written by Ballyot and Fida Bizri, the film is produced by Céline Loiseau, Jean-Laurent Csinidis and Luc Camilli. Its visual and emotional impact is heightened by cinematography from Béatrice Kordon and Ballyot herself, with editing by Charlotte Tourrès and sound design by Tatiana El Dadah, Luc Meilland and Jocelyn Robert. The score, composed by Meilland, Kamilya Jubran and Ballyot, underscores the film's haunting reflections. At its core, Green Line is a bold exploration of memory and confrontation, bringing together personal narrative and collective history through a unique artistic lens. The film is a French-Lebanese co-production, bringing together TS Productions (Paris) led by Céline Loiseau, Jean-Laurent Csinidis' Films du Force Majeure (Marseille), Luc Camilli's Xbox Films (Toulouse), and Sabine Sidawi's Orjouane Productions (Lebanon). It was made possible with support from a range of funding bodies, including France's CNC, the regions of Normandie, Occitanie, Sud and Île-de-France, as well as the Doha Film Institute.
