Creative Expression Through Films

Creative expression through films is a socio-cultural project with a series of ten independent workshops in Lebanon. These workshops use film expression to transform education, equip people with the tools to communicate, think critically, auto-reflect or sometimes (re)build self-confidence by (re)connecting with their inner self. 

The project embraces diversity by targeting people from various regional, social, cultural and educational backgrounds and ages living in Lebanon. It’s inclusive politics and the ultimate objective aim is to reach marginalised communities and to relocate cultural access from urban centres to rural areas. 

Creative expression through films aims to motivate people from all regions of Lebanon to express their ideas and desires for social change in a creative way and thus participate in the public discourse on Lebanon’s political, social, cultural and economic development.

The workshops will be held by Lebanese filmmakers Corine Shawi and Yara Nashawaty and will cooperate with cultural actors, stakeholders and institutions from Lebanon. Each workshop groups eight participants who will produce ten short individual video diaries over the period of five intensive days. All along the workshops, participants will film short and themed exercises. They will be able to use their immediate surroundings at the workshop and at home. These exercises will take the form of shot/edited intimate diaries. The applied method during these workshops will highlight the individual stories of each participant under the pillars of aesthetics, form, and content. Thus art presents a key way for individuals to raise a voice, an expression and to process their reality.

Selected video diaries produced in the workshops will be screened publicly at the end of 2023 and 2024.

The project is implemented by elbarlament and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.