Directed by Lana Daher, “Do You Love Me” was presented at Giornate degli Autori at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. It is a mesmerizing documentary that delves into Lebanon’s rich and complex cultural history through a deeply personal and artistic lens.
A Personal Journey Through Lebanon’s Identity
Directed by Lana Daher, “Do You Love Me” is an evocative exploration of Lebanon’s audiovisual landscape. The film is crafted solely from archival materials, home videos, photographs, music, podcasts, and independent cinema spanning from the 1950s to today. Daher explains that her initial intent was to fill gaps left by Lebanon’s underrepresented history books, which tend to overlook events beyond the country’s independence in 1945. However, as the project evolved, it became more of an intimate reflection on her relationship with Lebanon and Beirut that captivates the audience for its hybrid style, a seamless blend of documentary and personal essay.
Plot
"Do You Love Me" is a playful and personal journey through Lebanon’s audiovisual memory, composed entirely of archival footage. It is a love letter to Beirut, spanning 70 years of film, TV, home videos, and photography, exploring the Lebanese collective psyche – marked by joy and intimacy, destruction and loss. Through the eyes of citizens, filmmakers and artists, the film reconstructs a fragmented history in a country without a national archive, celebrating creative expression as both resistance, renewal and a way to preserve memory.