My Own Personal Lebanon (16'), Theo Panagopoulos, United Kingdom / Greece

My Own Personal Lebanon is a short documentary following the attempts of a young Greek filmmaker to
connect with his distant Lebanese half by discovering his mother's secret stories of the war. Te film
explores the emotional tension between national and personal identity through a conversation in a car,
two installations in Athens, a book about Beirut and three spoken languages. Were the stories meant to be

silenced for ever or did he just not pay enough attention? Why did it take him so long to wake up to his
family history?