This selection of films draws from ArteEast’s ArteArchive to explore the notion of absence–that which is erased, missing or forgotten–as a central theme in the works of Lebanese filmmakers Marwa Arsanios, Ahmad Ghossein, and Ghassan Halwani
Both Marwa Arsanios and Ghassan Halwani use animation as a means to render that which is invisible visible, while Halwani also uses a process of omission and unlayering, both literal and metaphorical, to uncover the buried faces and names of those who went missing during the Lebanese Civil War. Contrary to Halwani’s use of omission, Ahmad Ghossein applies a process of insertion, reintroducing the cut-out silhouette of his father into family photographs, as a means to mark the very present absence of his father during Ghossein’s childhood years. From erasure, to omission and insertion, these works employ different creative devices to render that which is absent present.
Erased,__Ascent of the Invisible (2018)
It begins with a disappearance 35 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. Erased,____ Ascent of the Invisible embraces this layered sense of history's continual unspooling into the present.
It is an evocative examination of the thousands of people who were disappeared during Lebanon's 15-year conflict. Diving into this politically loaded and personally resonant topic, the filmmaker scrapes away — at times, quite literally — layers of Lebanese history and rethinks the topography of modern-day Beirut.
Though the disappeared were erased — their bodies remaining unfound and unrecovered decades later — their presence lingers. As Halwani explores, the dead remain in the memory of loved ones, beneath the sidewalks of gentrified neighborhoods, in the very fabric of society.
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.
About the filmmaker
Ghassan Halwani lives and works in Beirut. After a short film Jibraltar (2005), and due to the 2006 Israeli atrocious war on Lebanon he gave up the artist career and retired to do an illustration/animation artisan job to sustain his economies.
He got involved in collaborations with Lebanese and Arab filmmakers, playwrights, contemporary artists, publishers, musicians, and sustained his political engagements. Among his collaborations: a long contribution with playwright and artist Rabih Mroué, Takhabot a music video with Musician Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, a short animation for the feature documentary Lebanese Rocket Society by Joanna Hadgithomas and Khalil Joreige, Lucena: Obedience Training with Zoukak Theatre company, a short animation for the feature film 1982 by Oualid Mouaness. In 2012, he judged inevitable not to work on a renewed political discourse on the matter of the disappeared and mass-graves in Lebanon that was completed in 2018 with the film Erased, Ascent of the Invisible. Additionally, he is contributing to the creation of a national archive dedicated to the enforced disappearances in Lebanon.
- Year2018
- Runtime76 minutes
- LanguageArabic
- CountryLebanon
- PremiereLocarno
- RatingPG-13
- DirectorGhassan Halwani
- ScreenwriterGhassan Halwani
- ProducerGhassan Halwani
- CinematographerHassan Halwani, Inka Dewitz, Carine Doumit, Joan Chaker
- EditorVartan Avakian
- AnimatorGhassan Halwani
- Sound DesignToni Gitani, Rami Sabbagh
This selection of films draws from ArteEast’s ArteArchive to explore the notion of absence–that which is erased, missing or forgotten–as a central theme in the works of Lebanese filmmakers Marwa Arsanios, Ahmad Ghossein, and Ghassan Halwani
Both Marwa Arsanios and Ghassan Halwani use animation as a means to render that which is invisible visible, while Halwani also uses a process of omission and unlayering, both literal and metaphorical, to uncover the buried faces and names of those who went missing during the Lebanese Civil War. Contrary to Halwani’s use of omission, Ahmad Ghossein applies a process of insertion, reintroducing the cut-out silhouette of his father into family photographs, as a means to mark the very present absence of his father during Ghossein’s childhood years. From erasure, to omission and insertion, these works employ different creative devices to render that which is absent present.
Erased,__Ascent of the Invisible (2018)
It begins with a disappearance 35 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. Erased,____ Ascent of the Invisible embraces this layered sense of history's continual unspooling into the present.
It is an evocative examination of the thousands of people who were disappeared during Lebanon's 15-year conflict. Diving into this politically loaded and personally resonant topic, the filmmaker scrapes away — at times, quite literally — layers of Lebanese history and rethinks the topography of modern-day Beirut.
Though the disappeared were erased — their bodies remaining unfound and unrecovered decades later — their presence lingers. As Halwani explores, the dead remain in the memory of loved ones, beneath the sidewalks of gentrified neighborhoods, in the very fabric of society.
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.
About the filmmaker
Ghassan Halwani lives and works in Beirut. After a short film Jibraltar (2005), and due to the 2006 Israeli atrocious war on Lebanon he gave up the artist career and retired to do an illustration/animation artisan job to sustain his economies.
He got involved in collaborations with Lebanese and Arab filmmakers, playwrights, contemporary artists, publishers, musicians, and sustained his political engagements. Among his collaborations: a long contribution with playwright and artist Rabih Mroué, Takhabot a music video with Musician Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, a short animation for the feature documentary Lebanese Rocket Society by Joanna Hadgithomas and Khalil Joreige, Lucena: Obedience Training with Zoukak Theatre company, a short animation for the feature film 1982 by Oualid Mouaness. In 2012, he judged inevitable not to work on a renewed political discourse on the matter of the disappeared and mass-graves in Lebanon that was completed in 2018 with the film Erased, Ascent of the Invisible. Additionally, he is contributing to the creation of a national archive dedicated to the enforced disappearances in Lebanon.
- Year2018
- Runtime76 minutes
- LanguageArabic
- CountryLebanon
- PremiereLocarno
- RatingPG-13
- DirectorGhassan Halwani
- ScreenwriterGhassan Halwani
- ProducerGhassan Halwani
- CinematographerHassan Halwani, Inka Dewitz, Carine Doumit, Joan Chaker
- EditorVartan Avakian
- AnimatorGhassan Halwani
- Sound DesignToni Gitani, Rami Sabbagh