Sylvie Ballyot’s Lebanese documentary GREEN LINE set for a Lebanese premiere at Ecrans Du Sud festival in Metropolis cinema

In memory of the 50th anniversary of the Lebanese civil war, the Locarno award-winning Lebanese documentary GREEN LINE is set to have its Lebanese premiere at 7:30 pm on April 11th at Metropolis Cinema, in the presence of the film’s director, Sylvie Ballyot, star Fida Bizri, and the crew.

Following the premiere, there will be a Q&A where audiences can engage in an insightful discussion with the film’s cast and crew. An additional screening as part of the festival will take place at 4:30 pm on Saturday, April 19th.

MAD’s other titles at Ecrans Du Sud include Mohamed Kordofani’s Sudanese masterpiece GOODBYE JULIA, screening at 6 pm on Sunday, April 13th, and Mo Mo Harawe’s first Somali-shot feature selected for Cannes, THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE, which will screen at 8 pm on the same day.

Also to be featured at the festival is Amr Gamal’s brilliant Yemeni drama THE BURDENED, scheduled for 7 pm on Wednesday, April 16th, and Amjad Al-Rasheed’s acclaimed Jordanian feature INSHALLAH A BOY, screening at 8:30 pm on Thursday, April 17th.

Directed and co-written by Sylvie Ballyot alongside Fida Bizri, GREEN LINE is a unique animated documentary that reconstructs Fida’s turbulent upbringing during the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990 using miniature sets of Beirut and figurines. Through these models, Fida confronts the ex-militiamen who operated during her 1980s childhood in West Beirut—militiamen who claimed to protect her but instead instilled fear.

The film combines personal narrative with striking visuals, offering historical insight through interviews with fighters from various factions, providing diverse perspectives on the conflict. This emotional journey revisits the past in a way that resonates deeply with audiences, blending memory and history.

In other news, inspired by her film GREENLINE, Sylvie Ballyot will hold an exhibition titled IN BETWEEN WORLDS, at 3 pm on Sunday, April 13th, at Beit Beirut (formerly the Barakat Building), as part of the Hakili exhibition, running until the end of June.

In the exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity to see the models featured in the film up close, as well as view previously unseen excerpts depicting encounters between civilians and a former fighter.

Additionally, IN BETWEEN WORLDS invites us to dive into our memories and connect with them, as well as with Teta, Daniel, Um Ghassan, and Nassim, through messages that any visitor can leave for them.

The film world premiered at the 77th Locarno International Film Festival, winning two awards: The Mubi Award for a Promising Debut Feature and the Cinema & Gioventù First Prize. It has since screened at numerous festivals worldwide, including the São Paulo International Film Festival, Festival International du Cinéma Méditerranéen de Montpellier (Cinemed), Marrakech International Film Festival, where it won the Atlas Distribution Award, États Généraux Du Film Documentaire – Lussas, Cinema Du Reel Film Festival, Bolzano Film Festival Bozen, and Ismailia International Film Festival, where it won Best Feature Film.

GREEN LINE is a French-Lebanese co-production between Céline Loiseau’s TS Productions, Jean-Laurent Csinidis’s Films du Force Majeure, and Luc Camilli’s Xbox Films.

In Arabic-speaking territories, the film is distributed by MAD Distribution, while MAD WORLD handles its worldwide sales.

A graduate of the Fémis Film School in Paris, Sylvie Ballyot directed several shorts and medium-length fiction films that explore love and family relationships, including ALICE, TEL PÈRE TELLE FILLE — selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight in 2007— MOI TOUT SEUL, and the award-winning 2008 documentary LOVE AND WORDS ARE POLITICS that was shot in Yemen.

In addition to directing and co-writing GREEN LINE, Ballyot also lensed the film, alongside Béatrice Kordon, co-edited the film along with Charlotte Tourrès, and also composed the music, along with Luc Meilland.