Jocelyne Saab

Biography

Jocelyne Saab was a filmmaker and a photographer. She was born in 1948 and grew up in Beirut. In 1973, she became a war reporter in the Middle-East, covering the war of October for Magazine 52, the third television channel in France. In 1975 she directed her first feature film, a documentary released in Parisian cinemas: Lebanon in Turmoil, distributed by Pascale Dauman. She will then cover the Lebanese war for fifteen years, during which she directs almost thirty films, including Beirut, never again, broadcasted on France 2 in 1976, Letter from Beirut and Beirut, my city, broadcasted on France 3 between 1978 and 1982. In 1977 both Egypt, City of the Dead and The Sahara is not up for sale and were shot and released in Parisian cinemas. In 1981, she shots Iran, Utopia in the making on the days following the Iranian revolution, which received several international prizes. In 1998, she went to Vietnam and directed a documentary called The Lady of Saigon, which is awarded best French documentary by the French senate. It’s broadcasted on France 2, and in many international festivals.

Directed

1. Children of War (1976) — Director
2. Dunia (2006) — Director
3. Beirut, My City (1983) — Director
4. Beirut, Never Again (1976) — Director
5. The Razor's Edge (1985) — Director
6. South Lebanon: The Story of a Village Under Siege (1976) — Director
7. A Letter from Beirut (1978) — Director
8. Iran, Utopia on the Move (1980) — Director
9. Lebanon in a Whirlwind (1975) — Director
10. Once Upon a Time in Beirut (1995) — Director
11. For a Few Lives (1976) — Director
12. Egypt, City of the Dead (1978) — Director
13. Sahara Is Not for Sale (1977) — Director
14. Palestinian Women (1974) — Director
15. Personal Drawing of a French Mercenary (1975) — Director
16. The Ship of Exile (1982) — Director
17. Rejection Front (1975) — Director
18. Lebanese, Hostages of Their City (1982) — Director
19. Imaginary Postcards (2016) — Director
20. The Lady of Saigon (1996) — Director
21. Fertilization in Video (1991) — Director
22. My Name is Mei Shigenobu (2018) — Director
23. One Dollar a Day (2016) — Director
24. The Ghosts of Alexandria (1986) — Director
25. The Architect of Louxor (1986) — Director
26. La Tueuse (1988) — Director
27. La Croix des Pharaons (1986) — Director
28. L’Amour d’Allah (1986) — Director
29. What's Going On? (2009) — Director
30. Les Almées, danseuses orientales (1989) — Director
31. Les Palestiniens continuent (1974) — Director
32. Making of Nahla (1979) — Director
33. Gender Cafe (2013) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Beirut, My City (1983) — Self
2. Beirut, Never Again (1976) — Narrator (English Voice-Over) (uncredited)
3. Arab Camera (1987) — Self
4. Lebanon in a Whirlwind (1975) — Self (uncredited)
5. A Letter from Beirut (1978) — Self
6. As Kineastas (1986)
7. Lebanese, Hostages of Their City (1982) — Self - Narrator (voice)
8. Making of Nahla (1979) — Self