Palestinian Women documentary, 1974, color, France, 16 mm, 16′
Palestinian women, the often-forgotten victims of the Israeli-Palestinian war, are here given a voice by Jocelyne Saab.
In 1973, I direct Palestinian Women for Antenne 2. I wanted to show these women, the Palestinian combatants in Syria, at a tume when there were so few so few images of them. This is just before Sadaat’s visit to Israel – the situation is very tense. While I’m editing the film on the premises of Antenne 2, Paul Nahon, then head of the Foreign Editorial Departement, grabs me by the collar and takes me out of the editing room. Palestinian Women remains unfinished and is never shown on television.
The Rejection Front (or the Suicide Bombers) documentary, 1975, color, France, 16 mm, 10′
When peace proves impossible, all means are justifiable in defence of a political cause. That’s what the suicide-commandos argue, operating on the frontier separating the Palestinian territories from the land they refuse to accept as Israel. Jocelyne Saab was the first journalist able to film these adolescents, between 16 and 20-years old, who train every day in a secret underground base to become suicide-commandos.
South Lebanon, History of a Village Under Siege documentary, 1976, color, France, 16 mm, 14′
The ceasefire declared on October 21st, 1976 gives the fedayin the opportunity to reclaim what had been Fatah territory until it was abandoned in 1970, from the right-wing militia. Syrians and Israelis join together to neutralize this “autonomous force” of Palestinians and impose a siege on two Lebanese frontier villages, Hanine and Kfarchouba, before attacking them. from the right-wing militia. Syrians and Israelis join together to neutralize this “autonomous force” of Palestinians and impose a siege on two Lebanese frontier villages, Hanine and Kfarchouba, before attacking them.
Though one of her earliest films, South Lebanon is reflective of Saab’s distinct filmmaking style – inquisitive, personal, unafraid of asking probing questions and taking bold positions. Her report served to shift the narrative by underlining to a European audience that the Israeli army was not only targeting Palestinians but also knowingly destroying Lebanese villages.
Letter From Beirut documentary, 1978., color, Lebanon, 16 mm, 52′
Three years after the beginning of the Civil War the filmmaker returns to her city for several months. Living between this country at war and a country in peace, she tries to readapt to daily life in Beirut. Public transport in the city no longer exists, but the filmmaker gets an old bus up-and-running, provoking a disconcerting return to normality in this city at war: people climb onto the bus, which they see as a place of security.
Jocelyne Saab (1948-2019) was a French-Lebanese filmmaker and artist. As a war reporter, documentary filmmaker, fiction filmmaker, photographer and video artist, throughout her life she developed her language and mediums of expression to denounce injustice and work for a better society. She is best known for her support for the Palestinians and for her documentary work during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), but also for her fiction film Dunia, shot in Egypt against the rise of fundamentalism in the country. Her films reflect the great social and anti-colonial struggles of the 20th century: that of the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara, that of Iran after the 1979 revolution, that of the Egyptians with the bread riots of 1977 and the rise of fundamentalism in the 1980s. The Lady of Saigon is a portrait of a woman who recounts the maquis and the Vietnamese communists’ struggle against the Americans.
