On Refugees, Palestine, and Talking Back: Film Screening and Discussion with Mahmoud Zeidan

Join QPIRG-McGill in collaboration with Mahmoud Zeidan, an expert on the grounds in Palestinian Refugee camps in Lebanon, for the screening of “Nahr el-Bared Talks Back”, followed by a conversation on refugee camps, refugees talking back, and Palestine.The screening will take place in the Critical Media Lab, in Peterson Hall, Room 108, from 5:30-7:00. Refreshments will be provided.

“Nahr El-Bared talks back” depicts the story of the camp. On 20th May 2007, fighting broke out between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and a new militia group calling itself Fatah al-Islam based in Nahr el-Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, North Lebanon. After 15 weeks of intense bombardment, the camp was reduced to rubble, and more than 30,000 residents made homeless. Despite plans to rebuild the ruined camp, the displaced families live under dire conditions and face an uncertain future.In Nahr el-Bared Talks Back, the displaced refugees narrate the fearful story of the camp’s destruction, the dangers of being under siege, their fateful escape, and their hopes of one day returning. But most of all, Nahr el-Bared Talks Back is the tale of Palestinian families losing their most valuable assets – home and community – in the face of chronic uncertainty. Mixing original footage shot in the camp with the refugees’ own voices, this film is the inside story of a humanitarian disaster that shocked Lebanon and made international headlines.