"Superb...one of the year's highlights,"
Michael Philips, The Chicago Tribune

"NYT Critics' Pick: Meticulous...a palpably
and intensely personal film," A.O. Scott,
The New York Times

Levantine Center's New Voices in Middle Eastern Cinema series and the Malibu Film Society present Lebanon, followed by a lively discussion with Yossi Khen, a former Israeli soldier and critic of the war. Seating is limited and early purchase is recommended. Get tickets here or call 310.589.0223.

The First Lebanon War—June, 1982. A lone tank is dispatched to search a hostile town that has already been bombarded by the Israeli Air Force. What seems to be a simple mission gradually spins out of control. Shmuel the gunner, Assi the commander, Herzl the loader and Yigal the driver are the tank's crew, four 20-something boys who have never fought in a war and are now operating a killing machine. Though trying to remain brave, the boys are pushed to their mental limits as they struggle to survive in a situation they cannot contain, and try not to lose their humanity in the chaos of war.

Writer-director Samuel Maoz's raw and visceral film is based on his own experiences as a twenty year old novice soldier serving in the Israeli army during the 1982 Lebanon war. Using his own vivid recollections to bring us inside an Israeli tank during the first 24 hours of the invasion, Maoz restricts the film's action entirely to the tank's interior and shows us the outside world only—as the four young soldiers themselves see it-through the lens of a periscopic gun sight. According to press notes "The cathartic process of writing and directing Lebanon allowed Maoz to finally free himself of the events that he had experienced twenty-five years earlier."

Read our interview with Samuel Maoz.

Get tickets here or call 310.589.0223.

Yossi Khen was born in Israel, and served in the IDF during the War of Attrition at the Suez Canal—a turning point after seeing death for the first time up close. He subsequently served in the Occupied West Bank and witnessed the daily abuse of Palestinians. After he completed his military service, he joined activities for human rights and peace. In April 1973 he refused to serve in the Occupied West Bank as a reserve soldier and as a result spent some time in military jail. He never again saw the Occupied Territories as a soldier. For the past thirty years in Southern California, he has been active on the Israeli Palestinian issue in different forms. Yossi is a computer programmer and analyst for Wellpoint in Los Angeles.