The Script

Akram Zaatari, born in 1966 in Saida, Lebanon and based in Beirut, has produced films and videos, all sharing an interest in writing histories and practices related to excavation, political resistance, the lives of former militants, the legacy of an exhausted left, the circulation of images in times of war. Zaatari has played a critical role in developing the formal, intellectual, and institutional infrastructure of Beirut’s contemporary art scene. As a co-founder of the Arab Image Foundation, he has made invaluable and uncompromising contributions to the wider discourse on preservation and archival practice. Zaatari represented Lebanon at the Venice Biennial in 2013 with his film Letter to a Refusing Pilot. His works have been shown all over the world in solo and group exhibitions.

Filmography (selection)

1997 Al-Sharit Bi-Khayr (All Is Well on the Border); 45 min. 2003 Al-Yaoum (This Day); 86 min. 2005 Fo Haza al-Bayt (In This House); 13 min. 2008 Tabiah Samitah (Nature Morte); 10 min 2010 Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright; 10 min. 2011 Hia wa Houa (Her + Him); 33 min. 2013 The End of Time; 14 min. · Letter to A Refusing Pilot; 34 min. 2014 Beirut Exploded Views; 30 min. 2015 Thamaniat wa ushrun laylan wa bayt min al-sheir (Twenty-Eight Nights and a Poem); 120 min., Forum 2015 2018 The Script; 7 min., Forum Expanded 2019 · The Script 2019 Al-Houbut (The Landing); 63 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020