Arab Film Club: Diaries from Lebanon [In-Person Only]
$15 General Admission
$10 Student/Child/Senior
$7 NWFF Member
About
(Myriam El Hajj, 2024, Lebanon, France, Qatar, KSA, 110 min, in Lebanese Arabic with English subtitles)
In 2018, Joumana, a fiery feminist writer, poet and activist runs for election defying a political system that has been suffocating Lebanon for 40 years. She gets elected, only to be ousted the very next day through fraud, leaving her supporters furious. In 2019, the people’s rage turns into a revolution. The streets swell with thousands of voices. Among them Perla Joe, a fearless woman who rapidly becomes a symbol of this uprising. Her unyielding voice echoes the frustration of a youth struggling to find its place. But the past looms like a shadow over their aspirations for progress and change. Georges is the guardian of that mysterious and violent past. He is a veteran of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) where he lost a leg but clung to his delusions of “glory.” In the form of diaries, the filmmaker narrates four tumultuous years of a nation in turmoil, battling to break free from its own chains. As the country is shaken by disruptions, personal quests for meaning and survival unfold. How can we continue to dream when the world around us is collapsing?
About Myriam El Hajj:
Myriam El Hajj is a Lebanese filmmaker whose first feature-length documentary, A TIME TO REST, premiered at Visions du Réel-Nyon in 2015 and screened at several international festivals, winning multiple awards. Her second documentary, DIARIES FROM LEBANON, is set to premiere at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival’s Panorama Section. El Hajj teaches Cinema at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts and is a member of several film commissions, including the CNC. She’s also a founding member of Rawiyat-Sisters in Film — a collective of women filmmakers from the Arab world and the diaspora.
Ticketing, concessions, cinemas, restrooms, and our public edit lab are located on Northwest Film Forum’s ground floor, which is wheelchair accessible. All doors in Northwest Film Forum are non-motorized, and may require staff assistance to open. Our upstairs workshop room is not wheelchair accessible.
The majority of seats in our main cinema are 21″ wide from armrest to armrest; some seats are 19″ wide. We are working on creating the option of removable armrests!
We have a limited number of assistive listening devices available for programs hosted in our larger theater, Cinema 1. These devices are maintained by the Technical Director, and can be requested at the ticketing and concessions counter. Also available at the front desk is a Sensory Kit you can borrow, which includes a Communication Card, noise-reducing headphones, and fidget toys.
The Forum does NOT have assistive devices for the visually impaired, and is not (yet) a scent-free venue. Our commitment to increasing access for our audiences is ongoing, and we welcome all public input on the subject!
If you have additional specific questions about accessibility at our venue, please contact our Patron Services Manager at suji@nwfilmforum.org. Our phone number (206-329-2629) is voicemail-only, but we check it often.
Made possible due to a grant from Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, in partnership with Sensory Access, our Sensory Access document presents a visual and descriptive walk-through of the NWFF space. View it in advance of attending an in-person event at bit.ly/nwffsocialnarrativepdf, in order to prepare yourself for the experience.
NWFF patrons will be strongly encouraged to wear masks that cover both nose and mouth while in the building. Disposable masks are available at the door for those who need them. Recent variants of COVID-19 readily infect and spread between individuals regardless of vaccination status.
Read more about NWFF’s policies regarding cleaning, masks, and capacity limitations here.
