Now Hear This

For sound designer and director Rana Eid, the aural qualities of a film are what make a cinematic experience. She talks to EW about her debut documentary Panoptic and why she’s going against the grain of convention

- Iain Akerman

We have a huge problem with censorship because it’s the military system that is judging if a film can be seen or not. But this is not their job,” says the sound designer and director Rana Eid with conviction.

Earlier this year her debut documentary, Panoptic, fell foul of Lebanese censors, despite premiering at the Locarno Festival in Switzerland and screening at cinemas around the world. Now it will never see the light of day in Lebanon, because Rana refused to remove a single sentence and any military presence.

“In a way I was happy that the film disturbed the [General Directorate of] General Security,” says Rana, who has been working as a sound editor since 2003. “I am talking about a whole military system that is controlling the country without really accusing it of anything. It was only my own memories and traumas.”

In a way the ban was inevitable. The film explores Lebanon’s schizophrenia, examining a façade of consumerism that lies above ground and a subterranean, macabre world that lies below.