In Lebanon, there are indications of the existence of more than a hundred gravesites dating back to the 1975-1990 war. Some of these sites could  potentially reveal crucial details about the thousands of people who were forcibly disappeared during the war. With each passing year, preserving  evidence that could clear up the fate of the missing becomes harder. Witnesses are growing old and the burial sites are steadily being destroyed. 

The Soil and The Sea produces a lasting record of a selection of these sites and the stories they both reveal and conceal. We collected testimonies from eyewitnesses, former fighters, former detainees and relatives of victims. This oral history can guide the identification of potential burial sites and stir the conversation on what to do with them.

In 2018, after decades of advocacy, the Lebanese parliament passed the first Law on the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, Law 105, which constitutes the first step for the clarification of the fate of the missing persons. In 2020, the Council of ministers established the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared to investigate cases and identify remains in gravesites spread all over the Lebanese territories.

Produced in partnership with NGO Act for the Disappeared, The Soil and The Sea stands as the first record of its kind and, through a set of dissemination activities, aims to support search and truth-seeking processes, since it offers evidence and testimonies, but also as a catalyst for conversations among policy makers and the wider public. 

We will use the film to achieve the following goals: 

Raise awareness of the presence of unmarked burial sites among public opinion;

Engage local and international decision-makers to raise awareness of enforced disappearances in Lebanon, in view of promoting concrete actions that would end the phenomenon of enforced disappearances in the country;

Create knowledge exchanges between Lebanese activists/policy makers and international experts that can contribute to establish mechanisms of redress for the missing and forcibly disappeared and their families.