In these two shorts, filmmakers Fatima Joumaa and Farrah Berrou document scenes from South Lebanon during and after the 2023-2024 war of the support front for Gaza in Lebanon following October 7. Both films offer vital insights amid the ongoing, escalated Israeli aggression on Lebanon, and the complexities of loss, grief, memory, and endurance in its South.
Viewers are advised that these films deal with heavy subject matter. The screening will be followed by a discussion and Q&A. The event will cap off with a Maamoul Press pop-up shop in support of mutual aid in Lebanon and Gaza.
About the films:
Buffer Zone (2025) dir. Farrah Berrou
18 minutes | English and Arabic with bilingual subtitles
Part documentary, part memoir, Farrah Berrou takes us to her ancestral border village of Kfarkila in South Lebanon in the wake of its near total destruction. Footage from her first (and last) return after the "ceasefire" mixes with archival images, parsing the significance of home, memory, and the many forms of theft that Farrah and her family have had to stomach after years beside the genocidal aggressor that is Israel.
From My Mother's Novel (2025) dir. Fatima Joumaa
9 minutes | Arabic with English subtitles
Fatima, Layla’s daughter, after capturing moments in South Lebanon, returns to her home to hide within the folds of her mother's book.
For any questions, please contact Dave Serio at dserio@accesscommunity.org.