Lest we Forget
Keep talking about Beirut
In two minutes and 17 seconds, the Lebanese director Nadine Labaki conveyed the first horrifying minutes of the Beirut Blast on the 4th of August, which took place at 6:07 PM, and destroyed the entire capital. She documented these moments in a new video that will be added to the archive of this apocalyptic explosion.
Summer is over, autumn is bidding Beirut farewell, winter is coming with its thunderstorms and cold weather, and the heart of the destroyed capital is still bleeding and suffering. Therefore, winter in Lebanon will aggravate the tragedy, and add new complications and difficulties in the life of the affected people who are still drowning in their losses.
That’s what pushed Nadine Labaki, one of the well-known Lebanese directors and actresses, to release on November 18, 2020, a video entitled “Keep Talking About Beirut”; in which she presented the tragedy of the Blast on the 4th of August and its repercussions on a physical and economical level. Therefore, through pictures, footage and a script narrated by Cate Blanchett, Nadine wanted to remind us that the explosion is not a natural disaster but a manmade one. Through it, she is inviting people around the world to continue talking about Lebanon in order not to forget what happened, and to demand justice for the Lebanese who deserve to know the truth. At the end of the video, she called on the generous people and the concerned parties to donate and help the suffering Lebanese people.
Watch the video (Source: Lebanese Empowered Against Poverty LEAP)