Hostage of Time

Directed by Jean Khalil Chamoun

When Leila, a young doctor, returns to her village in south Lebanon, she finds it badly damaged after the 1993 Israeli attack. Israeli bombing during this episode razed 50 villages and left half a million civilians homeless, causing a flood of refugees into Beirut. Many of those who fled south Lebanon have not returned, choosing instead to live a scavenging existence in bombed-out buildings in the capital, where they’re out of range of the Israeli-occupied “security zone” in the south. Through Leila’s relationship with her family and the women and children of the surrounding villages, we get to know the hopes and dreams of the people who have remained in south Lebanon as they work to rebuild their homes and their lives.