*Buffer Zone* Screening-Fundraisers for Lebanon
Raising money for mutual aid funds active across Lebanon
In this short film, which is part-documentary and part-memoir, Farrah Berrou takes us to her ancestral border village of Kfarkila in southern Lebanon for the first time since October 8, 2023, the same day that Lebanon became a support-front to Gaza and Palestine in a post-October 7th world.
A few weeks into the latest escalation of Israel’s war on Lebanon, I put out a call on Instagram: organizers can screen Buffer Zone if it’s used as part of a fundraiser for one of Lebanon’s mutual aid initiatives.
I didn’t expect the response and effort that came in after that first post.
As of April 3, there had been four screening-fundraisers in different cities across the world which raised just over $10,000 total for various initiatives.
I don’t yet have the final numbers of the four that followed (two hosted on April 4 and two on April 8) but every estimate relayed to me at the end of an event so far has been a much-needed boost in morale. The messages from people who have attended have been an added bonus.
There are two more fundraisers tomorrow (in Barcelona and Dearborn) and many more in the pipeline. I’m doing my best to be present virtually for each one in some capacity but regardless, I’m grateful for my organizing partners from all over.
VIEW UPCOMING SCREENINGS
(the above page is being updated as details are confirmed)
⚠️ If you would like to host an in-person fundraiser for Lebanon through a screening of Buffer Zone in your city, read the bottom of this page and reach out to me via email.1
BUT WHERE DO WE DONATE?
Al Rawiya have compiled/are updating a Google doc of multiple, active initiatives and this website was built as an easy aid directory. I’m compiling/updating my own unofficial Excel sheet of funds too.
💚A note to Aanab News paid subscribers: I have donated all of the March subscription earnings (about $300, after deduction of the Substack cut and processing fees, but I donated a total of $330) on your behalf to: the production of five The Stray Compass tote bags ($30) and Alwen w Ahlem coloring books ($50). Donations were made to Maya from Nation Station ($100) and to a grassroots medical team of nurses, doctors, and pharmacists providing free medical care to displaced folks ($150).
NOTE: I will NOT be doing live-streams of the film anymore. We hosted one for the Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund and, while I’m SO honored and appreciative that it happened, it wasn’t the right “venue” for a sensitive film. Being at the mercy of WiFi connections inevitably caused interruptions (even though the host was in the U.S.) and the shift to Q&A immediately after viewing was too fast (because everyone’s on the call so there’s no space for silence). The lesson was that online, time-sensitive viewing is not a great format for my film but I’d prefer it brings people together in-person anyway.