Title: I only wish that I could weep
Attributed date: 2002
Attributed to: Operator 17
Production date: 2002

This document is attributed to Operator #17, a Lebanese Army intelligence officer who was assigned to monitor the Corniche, a seaside boardwalk in Beirut. From 1997 on, the officer decided to videotape the sunset instead of his assigned target. This videotape recounts the operator’s story and concentrates on the footage he was permitted to keep after his dismissal.

I Only Wish That I Could Weep, 2002, Video, color, mute, 7:36 min, Ed. 7

Title: Hostage: The Bachar tapes (#17 and #31)_English version
Attributed date: 2000
Attributed to: Souheil Bachar
Production date: 2002

Hostage: The Bachar tapes (English version) is attributed to Souheil Bachar and is about the abduction and detention in Lebanon in the 1980s and early 1990s of Western men like Terry Anderson and Terry Waite by “Islamic militants.” This episode directly and indirectly consumed Lebanese, US, French, German and British political and public life, and precipitated a number of high profile political scandals like the Iran-Contra Affair in the US.

In Hostage: The Bachar Tapes, this crisis is examined through the testimony of Souheil Bachar who was held hostage in Lebanon between 1983 and 1993. What is remarkable about Souheil’s captivity is that he was held for three months in 1985 in the same cell as five American men: Terry Anderson, Thomas Sutherland, Benjamin Weir, Martin Jenco and David Jacobsen. In 2000, Souheil collaborated with The Atlas Group to produce fifty-three videotapes about his captivity. Tapes #17 and #31 are the only tapes Souheil makes available outside of Lebanon. In the tapes, Bachar addresses the cultural, textual and sexual aspects of his detention with the Americans.

Hostage: The Bachar Tapes, 2002, DVD, colour, 18 min, Unlimited edition, Excerpt