Lebanese filmmaker Philippe Aractanji hosted a screening of his autobiographical film, “Mirath”(or Heritage), in Witherspoon Student Center Tuesday night.
The film was only shown in two other cities in the United States: San Francisco and New York City. Aractanji is currently working on distributing the movie in France in April.
The event was hosted by the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies and was specifically part of the center’s mission to research and bring information about Lebanese culture to share with the scholarly and general public.
“So this event that we had tonight was specifically part of our mission to bring this kind of information to the general public and the United States,” said Akram Khater, the center’s director and a professor of history. “We arranged for him to come here, because we thought it was an important film for the North Carolina State to see.”
Aractanji said he first thought about the idea of making the film in 2006 when the war between Lebanon and Israel started.
“We had recently left Lebanon to live in France, and my daughter asked why we were leaving and I realized a verbal explanation was not enough,” Aractanji said.
The autobiographical film took four and a half years to finish, according to Aractanji. He received little support from the government, due to the fact that there are very few Lebanese filmmakers, Aractanji said.
During the process, Aractanji had doubts on whether or not he should continue his film.
“I stopped and said who cares about my explanation, but I showed it to the Lebanese and non-Lebanese and they told me, ‘This is not your story, it’s our story, we left the country and we left in exile,’” said Aractanji.
During the question and answer session after the film, Aractanji stressed the importance of sharing past stories and heritage with children. Aractanji researched psychoanalysis while creating the film and concluded it is crucial that we transmit what we have been through to our children lest they carry our emotional baggage.
“This film was used by so many parents to talk about their childhood to their children,” said Aractanji. “Do not make a cut with our past and where we came from. It is important to give our lives and stories to our children.”
The event was also sponsored by the University Scholars program as an event, which attracted a few students who were interested in Middle Eastern culture and studies.
“I’m very interested in Middle Eastern history and culture,” said Shima Idries, a junior studying biological sciences. “It’s always really great to see how major events effect individual lives and you can only get that through narratives and stories and hearing the people who went through it themselves speak on it. Getting the opportunity to see that here and ask some questions is amazing.”
For April Zaetz, a freshman studying international studies, it was a unique opportunity to explore a different culture other than her own.
“I’m taking Arabic here, so I wanted to know more about the facts on a good level that is not superficial,” said Zaetz. “I wasn’t really taught any of this stuff growing up. I also especially liked hearing the mixed comments between the conflict issues and how even people who were from Lebanon have different opinions about it.”
The Kharyrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies will be hosting more events coming March and April.
“We have curated a museum exhibit about the history of the Lebanese in North Carolina,” Khater said. “We have a major conference about the diaspora that we will be holding on campus at the end of March. In April, we have a huge festival for Dabke, a Lebanese national dance, so we are bringing teams from all over the United States to compete in the first national competition for this dance at the Museum of History in downtown Raleigh.”