Also Directed by Mai Masri
A young Palestinian schoolteacher gives birth to her son in an Israeli prison where she fights to protect him, survive and maintain hope.
Short directed by Mai Masri.
This heartfelt documentary from award-winning filmmaker Mai Masri explores the enduring friendship that evolves between two Palestinian girls—Mona, who was born and raised in the economically marginalized Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, and Manar, who lives in the Dheisha refugee camp under Israeli control. The two girls begin their friendship as penpals, sharing the similarities and differences of life in the two refugee camps. Mona and Manar are finally able to meet face-to-face at the Lebanese-Israeli border during Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon. But when the second intifada suddenly erupts around them shortly thereafter, both girls must face heart-breaking changes in their lives.
By focusing on the experiences of 25-year-old Nadine Zaidan, who was one of the thousands of activists who gathered in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square in the chaotic days immediately following the assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in February of 2005, Beirut Diaries explores critical transformations and crucial questions facing contemporary Lebanon. With this insightful video diary, director Mai Masri chronicles the political ferment embodied in the March 11th Movement, also known as The Cedar Revolution, as people of all factions, ages and religious affiliations passionately debate such issues as Syria’s influence in Lebanese politics, the establishment of an international commission to investigate Hariri’s assassination and the organization of free parliamentary elections.
Filmed on the streets of Beirut, War Generation Beirut is a mesmerizing, award-winning documentary that explores the life experiences of three generations of young people as they struggle to survive in Lebanon’s war-torn capitol city. The film also traces the history and origins of Lebanon's Civil War.
Under the Rubble is the filmmakers’ harrowing attempt to tell the real story behind the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon as it took place in Beirut—a traumatizing experience for the city and its people. This moving and informative documentary won the Special Jury Award at the Valencia Film Festival.
33 Days chronicles the efforts of theatre director Sharif Abdunnur, graphic designer Sharif Bibi, journalist Fadia Baszzi and Mariam Al-Bassam, director of the news desk at New TV, as they try to provide emergency aid, report current news of the conflict and help Lebanese children process the violence and destruction they see around them on a daily basis. Masri's film is full of compassion and humanity even as it records the horrible devastation of war.
When filmmaker Mai Masri returned to her hometown of Nablus after a fourteen year absence, she discovered a new generation of Palestinian fighters: the children of the Intifada. Winner of the Award of Public at the Freminin Pluriel Festival, Children of Fire captures their courageous story on film and paints a daring portrait of the Palestinian uprising.
In Suspended Dreams, Jean Chamoun and Mai Masri link the stories of four people who are attempting to reconstruct their lives after Lebanon's long and devastating civil war. The film features two ex-militia fighters from Beirut; a woman searching for her missing husband; a playwright from southern Lebanon. Each share their lives and hardships amidst the rubble of their war-torn homeland.
Many people first became aware of the Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon after the shocking and horrific Sabra-Shatila massacre that took place there in 1982. Located in Beirut's "belt of misery," the camp is home to 15,000 Palestinians and Lebanese who share a common experience of displacement, unemployment and poverty. Fifty years after the exile of their grandparents from Palestine, the children of Shatila attempt to come to terms with the reality of being refugees in a camp that has survived massacre, siege and starvation. Director Mai Masri focuses on two Palestinian children in the camp: Farah, age 11 and Issa, age 12. When these children are given video cameras, the story of the camp evolves from their personal narratives as they articulate the feelings and hopes of their generation.
