A Summer Not To Forget Wins Jury Award at Sole Luna Festival in Palermo, Italy

Release Date: 7/16/2009

Carol Mansour's film one of the five documentary films in the Deep Dish TV series Nothing Is Safe - Israel's 2006 War on Lebanon

Sole Luna (www.soleelunadocfest.com) is a Mediterranean and Islamic International Documentary Festival in Palermo. It presents the world's best documentary films dealing with the Mediterranean region, Islam, nature, adventures, and travels to the Middle East and to the East.

This year (July 6-13, 2009), the festival screened films from Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Slovakia, Spain, Syria, Israel and Lebanon. Carol Mansour was there to receive the Jury?s Award. A Summer Not To Forget was screened in the closing ceremony to a wide international audience.

About the Film
On July 12th, 2006, Hezbollah captured 2 Israeli soldiers. For the following 34 days Lebanon witnessed continuous Israeli bombardment.

This documentary takes you beyond the news headlines into the harsh realities of war. It explores the devastation of a nation and a people caught under the siege.

Through powerful and often disturbing images, this documentary tells the story of yet another war on Lebanon: 1200 civilians killed and 4,000 injured, more than one million people displaced, 78 bridges destroyed, 15,000 homes damaged, the environmental disaster of 15,000 tons of oil spilled on 80 km of Mediterranean coast, and many more catastrophes. In footage not shown by the Western media, the film also exposes the devastation of 57 collective massacres in an attempt to capture the horror of its victims and their families.


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Speech by Carol Mansour at the Closing Ceremony of the Film Festival

Good evening everybody,

I would like to thank you all for giving my documentary a chance to be seen here in Palermo.

A Summer Not to Forget is a documentary on the Israeli war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Israel bombarded Lebanon for 34 consecutive days; 1,200 civilians were killed and 4,036 injured, more than one million people displaced, 78 bridges destroyed, 30,000 homes damaged, 57 collective massacres carried out and many more atrocities; while the international community of politicians, the so-called leaders, was watching and while we were waiting for the Israelis to put an end to this horrific war.

The western media failed to tell the story the way it happened so it was the anger of not seeing the truth that pushed me to make this film. It was my way of resisting and protesting the condition of war that was imposed on us.

I am not involved in any political party; I am just a human being who wanted, through this documentary, to show the world the horror of the Israeli war on Lebanon.

What happened in Lebanon in 2006 has been happening everyday for decades in Palestine. It is difficult to accept that despite all the advancement in science and technology, everyday, somewhere, the most cruel brutality is committed. It is not acceptable that in 2009, we are allowing all those crimes of war to happen in front of our own eyes.

I want to thank the festival to have had the courage to show such a documentary. I want to thank the jury for giving it an award and I thank you all for being here.

View the trailer: