‘Death of a Virgin’ Director Preps Follow-Up to Berlinale Debut, a Gay Love Story Set During the Lebanese Civil War
05.11.2023 - 15:27
/ variety.com
Christopher Vourlias The forbidden love between two soldiers in a society riven by war is at the heart of “So the Lovers Could Come Out Again,” the sophomore feature from Lebanese filmmaker George Peter Barbari, whose debut, “Death of a Virgin, and the Sin of Not Living,” premiered in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama strand. Barbari will be presenting the project at the Crossroads Co-Production Forum, which takes place Nov.
5 – 9 at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. “So the Lovers Could Come Out Again” is the story of two young soldiers holed up in a building controlled by Christian militias during the Lebanese civil war.
As the fighting intensifies, the two men begin to find safety in each other, sharing their hopes and fears and recognizing that both are running from the past, as well as the war that rages inside them. Each offers the other their perspective on life, love, death, the universe, being, and how difficult it is to simply be themselves in a brutal world, forming a passionate bond considered unacceptable — even unthinkable — by their countrymen.
The film is inspired by real-life events that took place during a bloody conflict that lasted from 1975 until a 1990 peace agreement. During the war, Beirut was divided by a “green line” separating the city’s Muslim and Christian quarters.
Christian militias took up positions in one of the residential buildings overlooking the demarcation line, from which their snipers could fire on opposing fighters and civilians. During the war, says Barbari, the building came to be known as the “house of death.” When outsiders finally entered after the ceasefire, they discovered graffiti scrawled in Arabic on the wall that read: “If my love for Gilbert is a crime,
.