Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm

On the first weekend of the festival, performance artist Rabih Mroué invites artists and writers to shed light on events in Lebanon both past and present from a range of perspectives. It takes its title from a quotation from a Lebanese activist that was published in a Lebanese newspaper to mark the first anniversary of the October protests. Was this what the activist meant or did the journalist misunderstand her? It suggests that the revolutionaries will inevitably fail but that their moment of capitulation has yet to come. Rabih Mroué calls on us to endure this ambivalence and, along with his guests, to create scope for thinking and discussion about questions old and new, for expression of doubts, fears, ideas and incomplete thoughts. At the second programme day the series of lectures and talks will be continued.

11.00 Uhr Introduction Rabih Mroué

11.10 Uhr Jean Kassir & Jamal Saleh: Megaphone News: Disrupting Lebanon’s Media Landscape

Two of its founders talk about the social media platform Megaphone. This has questioned the establishment’s prevailing narratives about the situation in Lebanon since 2017 and was an important voice in the 2019 protests, especially for a younger generation.

12.30 Uhr Khalil Joreige & Joana Hadjithomas: The Postponed Story of Orthosia

The film-makers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige explore the ambivalent status of the Roman city of Orthosia that was rediscovered beneath the ruins of the Palestinian refugee camp Nahr El Bared, which was completely destroyed in 2007 by a terrible war between the Army and a group of Islamists.