About A War

Moving through the testimonies of Assad, a right wing Christian intelligence officer; Ahed, a Palestinian refugee fighter and Nassim, a Communist commander, About a War unpicks the personal motivations, trauma and regret of militiamen who picked up arms during the civil war. With no official account of the conflict, their testimonies build a multi-perspective picture of a crucial turning point in Lebanese history that radically transformed the Middle East.

The filmmakers have now made available their archive to showcase additional stories and interviews recorded for the film, but not included in the final edit

Director Daniele Rugo is also leading a cluster of projects called “Performing Violence, Engendering Change,” which connects artists and researchers from countries across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia in view of harnessing the arts' potential for improving human security in areas affected by conflict. The cluster is the result of a collaboration between partners from Kenya, Iraq, DR Congo, Pakistan, South Africa, Uganda, Lebanon, and the UK, and it is funded by GCRF. The Lebanon Memory Archive is one of the projects within this cluster.

Credits

A film by: Daniele Rugo & Abi Weaver

Co-produced by: Masahiro Hirakubo

Associate Producer: Dana Abi Ghanem

Original Soundtrack by: Alessandro Cerino

Dubbing Editor: Owen Shirley

Online Editor: Nicola Sburlati

Research advisors: Ziad Abdel Samad - Arab NGO Network for Development, Beirut; Eric Verdeil - Sciences Po, Paris

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Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and GCRF through the Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security