SHANE SMITH: War makes fucked up movies, and that is a
fucked up movie.
It's called "Divine Intervention." It's part of a
new wave of Lebanese cinema that's coming out of the
violence and the craziness and the terror that's been going
on there for the past 40 years.
Now there are a lot of different political factions
within Lebanon, but we're going to be concentrating on
the Palestinians, who are refugees.
They are people without a state.
And film has become the most important medium for them to
get their message across.
50 or 60 years ago, Beirut was much
different than it is today.
It was known as the Paris of the Middle East.
It was the cultural center of the region.
It was the artistic hub.
But at the same time, this part of the world was
radically altered with the establishment
of Israel in 1948.
The creation of Israel and the ensuing war caused the
displacement of the Palestinian people into many
neighboring Arab countries.
But a lot of them settled in Lebanon in temporary camps and
thought that they would soon be returning to their homes.
But they're still there today.
Three generations later, they still don't have a homeland.
They are still refugees.
They don't have passports.
They can't work.
And they're still living in the same camps.
Today Israel believes that the Palestinian refugee camps are
a breeding ground for terrorists and that militant
groups like the Hezbollah hide their weapons within their
communities.
In 2006, Israel bombed Lebanon for a month in retaliation for
Hezbollah's kidnapping of two of their soldiers.
Some of what happened in Lebanon during the conflict
was documented by civilians.
In fact, the footage you're watching now is from a DVD
that we bought on the streets of Beirut.
MALE SPEAKER: [SPEAKING LEBANESE]
SHANE SMITH: Instead of succumbing to hatred and
violence, some young Palestinians have turned to
film making as both a creative and a political outlet.
And we're seeing fiction, we're seeing documentary, as
an expression of what it's like to grow up in a constant
state of conflict.
-[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
-[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
SHANE SMITH: These films are happening with little to no
funding, basic resources, but against all odds a small group
of Palestinian filmmakers is emerging.
Our first contact with Palestinian filmmakers was
very personal.
We had gone to Beirut to shoot "The Vice Guide to Travel." It
was a story about a skate park that was
sponsored by the Hezbollah.
And while we were there, we met a Palestinian Boy Scout
leader named Ahmad.
And Ahmad lived in the Bourj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut.
Eddie, our producer, went to Ahmad's house
to interview him.
And he found out that his dream
was to become a filmmaker.
EDDIE: So I wanted to stop here because of that poster.
EDDIE: Oh, it's a photo that they painted?
AHMAD: Yeah.
EDDIE: How?
They shot him?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
EDDIE: I saw some photos of you with a gun.
AHMAD: Ah.
EDDIE: [CHUCKLE].
EDDIE: No.
EDDIE: No.
AHMAD: OK.
EDDIE: Yes.
EDDIE: You're suffering.
Do you want this generation of children to be martyrs?
You work with them every day.
EDDIE: What's the next step?
AHMAD: For me?
EDDIE: Yeah.
What can you do?
AHMAD: I'm going to have a camera soon.
SHANE SMITH: So we went to the camps, which are incredibly
depressing.
And the thought that Ahmad wanted to be a filmmaker, and
that we had everything at our disposal to help him with
that, after spending time with him and opening up his life to
us, we decided that we would surprise him.
And we gave him one of our cameras.
AHMAD: As a Palestinian guy it's so difficult to get like
a good camera.
I promise I will use this camera for the peace, and for
nice things.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
