Zeina lives in Dubai. In the midst of a divorce, she sends her son Karim to stay wither sister in Kherbet Selem, a small village, South of Lebanon, to spare him from his parents' fighting. A few dfays later war breaks out in Lebanon. Desperately worried, Zeina immediately heads to Lebanon via Turkey. Because of the blockade she dosen't reach the posrt of Beirut until the day of the ceasefire. There she meets Tony, the only taxi-driver who agrees to take her to the South...

Tony is a Christian. He lives in Beirut. His brother lives in Israel. Zeina is a Shiite. They have little in common but under these circumstances, that is irrelevant. They search teh refugee centres across a ravaged country. When they get to Kherbet Selem, the town is in ruins. Zeina's sister has been killed and Ali, a young boy, tells them that Karim has been taken away by French journalists. Zeina and Tony set out in search of the lost child...a journey that brings them together as they encounter death and destruction everywhere.

Under the Bombs is a visceral expression of anger and pain from a Lebanese man [the director] who could no longer tolerate seeing his country ransacked by war. This war began on July 12 th 2006. Ten days later, in the most precarious of circumstances, Philippe Aractangi began shooting Under the Bombs. He only hired two actors. The rest of the characters in the film: refugees, journalists, soldiers, religious people and militants, all played their own roles. All of them, caught in the turmoil and in the ruins of war-torn Lebanon. All of them were living this new tragedy as an intimate part of themselves. This road movie is a fictional story set in harsh reality, giving each scene a vivid poignancy.

Lebanon, 2007 / Phillipe Aractangi
95 mins