While the world came to a standstill in many places in 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and an almost eerie silence set in, the noise level increased massively not only in the port city of Beirut, but also in the surrounding airspace. The noise of the roaring generators to compensate for the lack of electricity supply from the state mingles with the noise of the fifty or so Israeli army drones and fighter jets that fly over the country every day. The Diary of a Sky is an essayistic collage of videos aggregated by the artist between 2020 and 2021.

This vast collection of videos is organised here into a chronology that documents the ways in which repeated incursions of Israeli fighter jets and drones have militarised the air itself. All the chapters in this diary bear witness to the ways in which this atmospheric violence is both terrifying and yet so integrated into daily life that it becomes ignorable in its monotony.

Awards

Visions du Réel – International Film Festival Nyon, Switzerland (12 – 21 April, 2024)

Burning Lights

IndieLisboa International Film Festival, Portugal (23 May – 2 June, 2024)

Silvestre Competition

Toronto International Film Festival, Canada (5 – 15 September, 2024) North American Premiere

Wavelengths

Camden International Film Festival, United States (15 – 18 September, 2024) US Premiere

Official Selection Won: CIFF award for Best Documentary Short Film

Mizna’s Twin Cities Arab Film Fest, United States (25 – 29 September, 2024)

Official Selection Won: Best Short Film & Audience Award for Best Short Film

Pravo Ljudski Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina (25 – 30 September, 2024)

Main Programme

Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada (26 September – 6 October, 2024)

MODES

DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, South Korea (26 September – 2 October, 2024)

EXPANDED Section

Festival International du Film Indépendant de Bordeaux, France (8 – 13 October, 2024)

Official Selection

Viennale, Austria (17 – 29 October, 2024)

Official Selection

Lima Alterna Festival Internacional de Cine, Peru (10 – 20 October, 2024)

Official Selection – Telescope section

Science New Wave Festival, United States (18 – 25 October, 2024)

Official Selection

Gimme Some Truth Documentary FF, Canada (6 – 10 November, 2024)

Official Selection

Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Germany (12 – 17 November, 2024)

Official Selection

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, The Netherlands (14 – 24 November, 2024)

Paradocs

Regent Park Film Festival, United States (28 November – 2 December, 2024)

Official Selection

Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival – Greek Film Archive, Greece (5 – 15 December, 2024)

Reframing Images Competition

Media City Film Festival, United States / Canada (9 – 30 December, 2024)

Official Selection

Which Human Rights? Film Festival, Turkey (14 – 18 December, 2024)

Official Selection

CPH:DOX – the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, Denmark (19 – 30 March, 2025)

Official Selection

Courtisane, Belgium (2 – 6 April, 2025)

Official Selection

One World IHRDFF, Romania (4 – 13 April, 2025)

Official Selection – Do you hear me?! Program

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