The Night between Ali and I

“The night between Ali and I”, is a fictional reenactment of one of the key events that happened in Lebanese and Levantine contemporary History: the highjack of 39 hostages at the Bank of America in Beirut, on October 18th, 1973.

In this event four armed young fellows from the Lebanese Socialist Revolutionary

Movement entered the bank, in Downtown Beirut, and asked from the authorities ten million dollars for the Arab fight against Imperialism in the region and the release of a few Arab political prisoners. They also requested that their demands and manifesto be published in the newspaper.

The installation displayed as a triptych with three main voices: Amer Farrough, one of the 4 men, Mariam, Ali’s sister and our own narration of the events. The images evoke in a particular way what happened during the night of the 26 hours that lasted the hijack but very much as we imagine things happen during the assault, and how the interaction between hostages and guerrilla gunmen in our view with a particular dance, a “deconstructed” dabke.