Children of Shatila

The Palestinian plight is a sad one. The consequences of the partition of Palestine in 1948 and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967 still reverberate around the world today. More than 350,000 Palestinian refugees have found their way to Lebanon where, however, they are denied resident status and access to over 70 professions by the Lebanese Government. The establishment of Shatila Camp in Beirut has become home to more than 15,000 Palestinians and Lebanese who share a common experience of displacement, unemployment and poverty. In 1982, Shatila made international news when more than 2,800 men, women and children were massacred by Israeli soldiers who had invaded Lebanon and occupied Beirut. This is the story of two Palestinian children born and raised in the Shatila Camp - Farah aged 11 and Issa aged 12. Both children’s grandparents were exiles from Palestine fifty years ago and it is the intent of documentary filmmaker Mai Masri to present the children’s stories of the realities of life in Shatila through their own eyes and words, providing each child with a video camera. Farah and Issa are delightful in their naturalness and through their own personal narratives about family background and daily life and interviews with family and friends, there is a sense that for all the poverty, tragedy and death that surrounds them, the girls are amazingly pragmatic in their attitude. However, it is every Palestinian’s dream to return home and maybe it is this dream which keeps alive the hope and the resourcefulness of the younger generation of Shatila. The film is a fragmentation of images by Farah, Issa and Mai Masri put together to present a heart-warming story in a heart-breaking environment. In English and Arabic with English subtitles.