[RECAP] May and June's Screening-Fundraisers for Lebanon
Another summary and a summer break
If you haven’t read the intro to this development and its first recap, see below:
![[RECAP] March and April's Screening-Fundraisers for Lebanon](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FbW7!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa11356eb-4881-4ba6-8b2b-c25d88d2ccc2_591x406.jpeg)
I’ve been working on this draft all of June while waiting for the final numbers to come in. In parallel, the situation on the ground keeps shifting, the number of casualties keeps climbing, and the aid keeps dropping.
May & June were slower months in terms of the number of screenings but the few that did take place were still important. They also required less of my own involvement. I sent a prerecorded voice memo to a few to bring attendees up-to-date but then I got sick for the only event that wanted me to phone in.
This drop in momentum is a reflection of where we’re/I’m at: the fatigue has set in.
That, combined with the false impression that a “ceasefire” or “framework” or [another word of your choice in quotations because it means nothing] is in place and being respected, has had an effect on the flow of donations. The prolonged catastrophe we are in is making it harder to sustain the community efforts that have been providing life-saving support, shelter, food, and cash.
Unfortunately, on the ground, war continues and the “quiet” in Beirut is dependent on the tantrums of tyrants. Beirut is not being carpet-bombed for now, just surveilled by buzzing drones. Dahiyeh endures the occasional airstrike and other parts of Lebanon1 are under full-scale attack. It’s worse than the (fake) post-ceasefire era of 2024. The South is occupied and extremely dangerous. Many still cannot go home and if there is a home to return to, they don’t feel safe enough to stay. The dragons dance while more of Lebanon’s residents are displaced, maimed, and murdered.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the cumulative toll from March 2 to July 6 is 4,319 people killed and 12,203 injured.
Save for the drones in the sky watching us sweat through our clothes, the capital city and its lovers around the world have adapted as we always do. When I think about how we’re going to keep everyone going through this hell while there are ZERO reassuring stop signs, I get deflated. But that’s why I’m logging these efforts; it helps to see the concrete impact even if it feels relatively small.
Like I said previously, I’ve been doing my best to keep track of the funds raised and where they’ve been donated. No money has gone through me.
From May 1st to June 30th, Buffer Zone was screened in nine cities, including Beirut.2 The other eight were fundraisers hosted in major cities and lesser-known locales like Fredericton, Canada and Neuchatel, Switzerland. In Crest, a commune in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France with a population of 8,658, Buffer Zone played on the big screen of the town’s co-op theater for 340 people!
June’s two events were repeats of programs screened in May. “Under the Same Moon,” the program that ran in Rome in May, screened in Milan in collaboration with Tafano Cinema during the summer open-air cinema program at Nuovo Anfiteatro Martesana (NAMA) on June 26th. “A People’s Timeline: South Lebanon on Screen,” a short film program that ran in London at Palestine House in May, ran again on June 27th.
Other films screened with Buffer Zone included: So Dear, So Lovely by Diana Allan, Msaytbeh, The Elevated Place by Rawane Nassif, Beirut, My City by Jocelyn Saab, Manthour Bayrut by Farah Naboulsi, Where the Olives Are by Kay Ayach, The Tree of Hell by Raed Zeno, Saboon Maazeh by Hamad Al-Tourah, Drone Story by Laura Menassa, Ship of Fools by Alia Haju, Yaroun by Zeinab Mahfoud, A Girl, Gazing: Fragment #5 and From My Mother’s Novel by Fatima Joumaa, What Remains by Nor Nsrallah, Lemon Blossom by Hassan Fneich, Evacuate or Die by Elias Hissa, Up to the South (Talaeen a Junuub) by Jayce Salloum and Walid Raad, and scenes from The Story of a Village and a War by Maroun Bagdadi and The Story of a Village Under Siege by Jocelyn Saab.
Again, I am listing all this to document but also to make it clear that the money raised was not due to my film alone.
The total raised over the last four months
The amount raised from the 23 screenings in March and April is at least 55,000 USD3 and the amount raised from May and June’s nine screenings is 13,077 USD.4
The grand four-month total raised from 31 screenings is at least 68,000 USD.
This next batch of donations went, in varying amounts, to the following groups: Jibal, Tanseqeye Shaabeye, Nation Station, Lebanese Red Cross, Agrimovement’s farmers’ fund, Truth Be Told, and directly to individuals/families in the Bekaa and the South.
A HUMBLE & GRATEFUL THANKS to Norm & Rana, Eleonore, Todd, Elie & Leï, Karim & the Miya Miya Film Club, Nora & Ludovica (especially for adding Italian subtitles and translating my voice note), and Ali AK.
UP NEXT…
In Lebanon, Buffer Zone is screening daily within Beit Beirut’s Hkeeli Ya Jnoub exhibition about Lebanon’s South, open now until July 26th. You can pass by during their operating hours to watch it. A floor supervisor will press play so you can watch it from start to finish, at your convenience. I highly encourage everyone to go spend some time soaking up the stories there but bring a fan because the AC is busted.
Beit Beirut’s operating hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm - 8pm
Beyond that, I will update the film’s website accordingly but follow me here and on Instagram to stay up-to-date on future screenings. Seeing as there aren’t as many events in the pipeline now, it’s unlikely that I’ll be publishing another recap like this.
⚠️ 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.
AND FINALLY, IT’S TIME FOR A BREAK
I have paused paid subscriptions because I am going to be taking a summer break. While I believe “rest” should be included in the package of a paid subscription, I still want to be fair to my readers who have stuck around these last four months when I was neither publishing nor resting. Mostly though, I want to remove the self-inflicted pressure to deliver so I can find my way back to this space on my own terms. Thank you all for not going anywhere while I was pushing myself through personal and national crises. I’ll be back soon, promise.
Mainly the South and the Bekaa
Beirut’s screening is part of the Beit Beirut program mentioned later in this newsletter. It is not a fundraiser but I have included it in the locations where the film was being viewed in May & June.
There were two events that sent their final numbers after I calculated the total and published the last recap. They were still collecting/matching. I say “around” because the total is now ~54,697 USD, excluding two events had people donate directly and did not track contributions. I’m also accounting for slight discrepancies due to exchange rates. I converted GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD to USD using XE.
Same point as above with regards to exchange rates.