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August Lebanon
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Jorge R. Ramirez didn't know much about the Middle East when he was asked to document "United for Lebanon," a fact-finding trip to Lebanon in August 2006. Meant to determine the impact of the 2006 Lebanon War, the British-Muslim delegation looked at the extent of devastation and internal displacement caused by heavy Israeli bombardment. And thus Ramirez spent three days exploring the damage done during the air strikes, interviewing refugees, and seeing what happens when a million people lose their homes. He was asked a lot of questions about what it was like to be an American, which was apparently a topic of much interest because, according to Ramirez, "They would say, 'In America, you can make a future. Plan you life. Here, you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow.'"
August Lebanon is only a three minute sampling of the twelve hours of footage accumulated, focused around an interview with Dr. Phyllis Starkey, Minister of Parliament. According to Ramirez, "[condensing it] was impossible -- I had to find the best sentence and just cut the segment around that." While the BBC has expressed interest in seeing a full documentary, there was no offer of financing for post-production, and "I refused to work on it for free," Ramirez said. "My body and mind couldn't handle it. Plus, I wanted to take a step back." So he tabled the project for several months and immersed himself in the region's history.
The soundtrack for the film was determined before a single frame was shot: while waiting at San Francisco International Airport, Ramirez realized that a friend of his, Tim Myers, had written a perfect song for the film. He called Myers before take-off, and Myers agreed to let him use the song, aptly entitled "World War," for free.
While he and his producing partners will continue to pursue investors, Ramirez is determined to eventually finish the project, financing or no. "I want my friends to understand what's happening over there," he says. "You can have a city like Beruit, which is a resort destination, populated and urban, like any other place in the world. And for some reason,
it's ok for super-powers to drop thousands of bombs in the middle of the place and destroy God knows how many homes -- because Hezbollah leaders happen to live in the area. It was a completely residential area that was bombed. They were nice enough to drop leaflets advising people to leave the area because the bombs were coming, so the losses were minimal. But the damage was intense."
-Liz Miller
Jorge R. Ramirez
Documentary, Politics
3:22
$5,000
Beruit and Southern Lebanon
Himself : Jorge R. Ramirez
Jorge R. Ramirez, Nadeem Kazmi
Will Raee
