By Ruba Hattar
This year’s Caravan 2020 was held online for the first time from October 3- 13; screening a handpicked selection of films directed by women during the past two years within the section of International Panorama. Adding to that, a section titled “Homage to Lebanon: On Reconstructing the Memory,” screening a selection of films for women directors who have strived, over the past long years to restore and reconstruct Lebanon’s memory, which is also considered a fragment of the Arab Collective Memory.
In the year 2008, The Between Women Filmmakers Caravan took off on its long journey, and over the years managed to reach most of Latin America, the Arab World and some European countries. The network that this caravan weaved along dozens of internationally acclaimed women filmmakers enriched the journey and prolonged it to the present moment. In the course of these years, the festival’s screening locations diversified according to the needs and circumstances of each country, sometimes the screenings took place in big auditoriums, and other times in small village squares, on rooftops and in small cinema clubs.
“Our aim has always been reaching out, through films directed by women, an audience that often doesn’t have access to view such films, making it even more reachable via a free of charge access to the screenings and subtitled translations that suit the official spoken languages of each of the countries.” Amal Ramsis Founder and director of the Caravan.
And just as the audience of The Between Women Filmmakers Caravan are accustomed to, the filmmakers participated in daily discussions with the audience, that were held online via Zoom application. The festival also hosted a Master Class with the Palestinian film director Mai Masri, where she shared the ongoing experience of her filmmaking and artistic career, that dealt with the memory of war and the city.
Moreover, the festival hosted an online Round Table session on the role of women filmmakers in reconstructing the Lebanese memory through their films, with the participation of Lebanese women directors, moderated by the film critic Houda Ibrahim.
The films participating in Caravan 2020 came from Ireland, USA, Greece, Switzerland, France, Germany, Spain, Palestine with 9 Arabic films especially on Lebanon and by Lebanese filmmakers.
