Guest
Ghassan Halwani’s debut feature ruminates on the thousands who disappeared during the Lebanese Civil War and their still-present absence in the lives of their loved ones. It begins with a disappearance 25 years in the past. In fact, it begins even before that, during a civil war that has ended but whose impact — and absences — continue to be felt. A photographer who transitioned to illustration (and whose work was seen at TIFF ’12 in The Lebanese Rocket Society), Halwani employs multiple mediums, including photography, voiceover, onscreen text, and his own animation. The result is a rumination on how violent acts — crimes against humanity — play into notions of martyrdom, shape national narratives, and pose questions about the very right, in being killed, to die.
