Are John Knudsen

Research Professor, Coordinator HUMIG research group

Nahr el-Bared talks back

On 20th May 2007, fighting broke out between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and a new militia group calling itself Fatah al-Islam based in Nahr el-Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, North Lebanon. After 15-weeks of intense bombardment, the camp was reduced to rubble and more than 30,000 residents made homeless. Despite plans to rebuild the ruined camp, the displaced families live under dire conditions and face an uncertain future.

In Nahr el-Bared Talks Back the displaced refugees narrate the fearful story of the camp's destruction, the dangers of being under siege, their fateful escape from the camp and their hopes of one day to return. But most of all, Nahr el-Bared Talks Back is the tale of Palestinian families losing their most valuable assets - home and community - in the face of chronic uncertainty. Mixing original footage shot in the camp with the refugees' own voices, this film is the inside story of a humanitarian disaster that shocked Lebanon and made international headlines.

Film details: Documentary film, colour, 45 minutes, Arabic with English subtitles.

Directed by:  Aidoun and CMI

Editor/edited by: Hashem Adnan, Bashar Younes

Produced at:  RedLine - Seven Media House Beirut Ltd (2009)

Funded by: Global Moments in the Levant (GML) project with support from the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI).

For more details of the film and film trailer, see external website:

http://www.nahrelbaredfilm.org/