Haykal lives in Al Shambouk, in one of Lebanon’s highest mountain regions, just a few kilometres from the Syrian border. It is an area composed of Sunni and Shiite towns as well as a Christian Maronite enclave, marked by social tension and religious conflict. Haykal himself is a Christian. On a small plot of land, the weathered farmer is building a house for himself and his family. Undeterred by the fact that they’ve already left him, and by the adversities of nature and mounting tensions and legal disputes over land ownership.
In the picturesque setting of Lebanon’s most expansive forest region, which Raheb captures in all seasons, the conflicts between the religious factions intensify not least of all because of the economic situation. The Syrian crisis is also having an economic impact on the region. Declining prices in agriculture are ruining farmers and the sale of land to outsiders is becoming a political problem – memories of the time when Muslim residents protected the nearby Maronite monastery are all but forgotten. Against this background, Eliane Raheb’s portrait of Haykal is symbolic of the kind of people who are trying against all odds to defend the coexistence of different groups within a community – offering a melancholic, yet cautiously optimistic insight into the peripheries of Lebanese society.

Awards for ›Mayyel Ya Ghzayyel‹
Special Jury Prize – Dubai IFF