12 ANGRY LEBANESE – THE DOCUMENTARY

A theater director specialized in working with disadvantaged and traumatized people, Zeina Daccache struggled to set up Lebanon’s first prison-based drama project in the country’s notorious Roumieh Prison. For fifteenmonths, forty-five inmates, some completely illiterate, found themselves working together to present an adaptation of the famous stage play 12 Angry Men, here re-named 12 Angry Lebanese. In the film, the drama therapy sessions, the interviews with the inmates, and the interaction with both director and audience, convey a message of hope, forgiveness and change. Through their artistic journey, these “murderers, drug dealers and rapists” reveal kindness and faith in life. Inspiring and honest, this account of the prisoners’ journey demonstrates the positive effect of drama therapy on some of the most ostracized individuals in society.