Miguel’s War

A playful and genre-mixing portrait of a gay man from Lebanon in self-exile in Spain, confronting ghosts and traumas from his past.

Strongly oppressed by shame and guilt connected to his own sexuality, Miguel decides to leave Lebanon for Spain to live out his life as queer. His extravagant Madrid life resembles that of a character in an Almodóvar film full of excess and sexual taboo-breaking. After 37 years in exile we follow him as he returns to Beirut for the first time. Director Eliane Raheb mixes elements of interview, theatre, fiction, re-enactments, archive footage and animated sequences in this genre-braking portrait of Miguel and the ghosts and traumas from his past.

«It's a powerful portrait of a person and place, and one of the most impressive documentaries of the year.» – Eye for Film

Director

Eliane Raheb is a Lebanese filmmaker and producer. Her debut film This Is Lebanon (2008) won the prize for best debut film at the Yamagata Film Festival and was broadcasted on ARTE/ZDF and several other tv-networks. Her documentary Sleepless Nights (2012) toured more than 40 film festivals and won several awards. Miguel’s War (2021), her latest film, premiered at the Berlinale where it also won the Teddy Award.

This film is part of