In the Shadow of the War

San­ti­a­go Roman, a rugged, 23-year-old sol­dier of the Peru­vian Navy, returns home to Lima after years of fight­ing in the jungle. Combat-weary and search­ing for hope, San­ti­a­go is a member … read more

Pales­tini­ans, in the midst of the ear-split­ting noise of bull­doz­ers, defy­ing the logic of war. “I wanted to show the emer­gence of the wall, to record this his­tor­i­cal moment, when … read more

By using very simple means, Orzu Saripov accom­pa­nies Afghan refugees, who are able to escape the hail of bombs in the north of the coun­try in the direc­tion of Tajik­istan … read more

For half a cen­tu­ry now, the Lebanese singer Fairuz has been a living legend in the Arab world, from Iraq to Moroc­co. Her home is Beirut. Once this city was a thriv­ing sea­port ‘the Paris of the Middle East’ - and a haven for those flee­ing reli­gious or ethnic per­se­cu­tion. In 1975, how­ev­er, a civil war that was to rage for fif­teen years dis­turbed this idyl­lic sit­u­a­tion. During this time, Fairuz remained in Beirut and every­one - whether Chris­t­ian, 45 Muslim, left-wing or right-wing, people from all of the groups that were mur­der­ing each other - con­tin­ued to love this par­tic­u­lar singer with all of their heart.
WE LOVED EACH OTHER SO MUCH por­trays the love of diverse Beirut inhab­i­tants for this diva. Through the music and the myth that grew around Fairuz, they tell their life sto­ries, and nar­rate the tragic, stir­ring his­to­ry of their city. Their rem­i­nis­cences, com­bined with Fairuz’ songs and her story, pro­vide a moving com­men­tary on Lebanon’s tumul­tuous his­to­ry. Women, men, Mus­lims, Chris­tians, Pales­tin­ian and Lebanese refugees, who iden­ti­fy with Fairuz’s songs and feel she is their voice, speak about the influ­ence of her music on their lives and their nos­tal­gia for the years gone by. Jack Janssen has chosen to tell this story of Fairuz through the eyes of her fans, who see her as an unob­tain­able goddess.