Philippe Aractingi / Listen

Philippe Aractingi was born in Lebanon. He came of age during the civil war and worked as a war photographer. As the war intensified, he moved to France and got a job in production.

In 1992 he returned to Lebanon, producing two documentaries, Through Mothers’ Eyes and Beirut of Stones and Memories. His first feature, Bosta (2005), was a musical road movie about postwar Lebanon.

In the aftermath of the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Aractingi took his camera with two professional actors and headed to South Lebanon. Over two days, his actors interacted with real civilians, soldiers, and rescue teams to produce Under the Bombs, a fictional story in a real-life setting, which was selected for the Venice Film Festival, Sundance, and the Dubai International Film Festival and won 23 awards.

Bosta and Under the Bombs were both Lebanon’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.

For his third documentary, Heritages (2013) Aractingi narrated the exile of his own family across four generations and 100 years of history.

He is a founding member of the Fondation Liban Cinema and is vice president of the board of the Screen Institute Beirut.

Listen is his fourth feature.