Stefano De Luigi
Syria Street

A film by Francesco G. Raganato | 2015

Italy, Syria, Lebanon
it
en
25'

Stefano De Luigi | Syria Street

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Synopsis

In Tripoli, northern Lebanon, Syria Street follows a line of confrontation between two rival neighborhoods: Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen. This thoroughfare physically separates two areas marked by political, sectarian, and regional tensions, against the backdrop of the war in Syria and its repercussions in Lebanon.

The film follows photographer Stefano De Luigi on the ground, as he meets residents, fighters, and people directly exposed to violence. The testimonies describe gunfire, shelling, civilian displacement, the presence of the Lebanese army, and the difficulties faced in a regularly affected area. The narrative places these local clashes within a broader regional context.

From this urban boundary, it shows how political, religious, and military divisions take concrete form in the city: damaged buildings, destroyed shops, displaced families, individual paths interrupted or transformed by the fighting. Syria Street thus offers a field investigation into a confined area marked by recurring violence between neighboring districts. Through observation and testimony, the film documents its effects on residents, everyday places, and the organization of the city.

What you will find in this film

A street turned into a frontline • Stefano De Luigi’s work in the field • Tripoli, Lebanon, under the shadow of the Syrian war • The tensions between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen • Residents caught in a geography of violence • Photojournalism as a patient investigation of places, traces and testimonies

Keywords

Reportage & Society Street & Architectural Photographic memory Photographic Film The Artist at Work

In a way, I don’t want to lock myself into a single language and apply it to every reality I encounter.

Stefano De Luigi Photographer

In this city, and especially in these two neighborhoods facing each other on either side of this road, Syria Street, I found, once again, the power of a symbol: a territory from which to tell a larger story.

Stefano De Luigi Photographer

For me, Tripoli is a powerful metaphor for a historical conflict between two souls of Islam.

Stefano De Luigi Photographer

The photograph of the giraffe, lying dead in the bed of a river, expresses this realization: there is nothing to add to what is already so terrible.

Stefano De Luigi Photographer

The idea was to scrape away that superficial layer of varnish and tell what lies behind it.

Stefano De Luigi Photographer

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The authors/artists

Stefano De Luigi

Stefano De Luigi

Francesco G. Raganato

Francesco G. Raganato

Further exploration

Stefano De Luigi – Blanco, Trolley Books, 2010. (English) – A central book in De Luigi’s work, showing his long-form approach to human vulnerability and documentary witness.

Susan Sontag – Regarding the Pain of Others, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. (English) – A foundational essay on war images, spectatorship and the moral difficulty of looking at suffering.

Susie Linfield – The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence, University of Chicago Press, 2010 / 2012. (English) – A strong critical counterpoint to Sontag, asking how photographs of violence can still open a space for conscience and political attention.

Geoffrey Batchen, Mick Gidley, Nancy K. Miller, Jay Prosser (eds.) – Picturing Atrocity: Photography in Crisis, Reaktion Books, 2012. (English) – A collective reference on how images of violence, catastrophe and trauma are made, circulated and interpreted.

Christiane J. Gruber & Sune Haugbolle (eds.) – Visual Culture in the Modern Middle East: Rhetoric of the Image, Indiana University Press, 2013. (English) – A useful broader framework for reading images, politics and visual rhetoric in the contemporary Middle East.

“In Tripoli, One Street Brings the Syrian War Home” – TIME – photo essay / article. A directly relevant article built around Stefano De Luigi’s photographs of Syria Street, Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in 2014.

“Syria Street: In Lebanon, one street both divides and unites” – International Committee of the Red Cross – article / visual project. A strong contextual resource on Syria Street after the clashes, focusing on recovery, poverty and divided communities.

“Patrolling a proxy-war: Soldiers, citizens and Zuʻama in Syria Street, Tripoli” – Chr. Michelsen Institute – academic chapter summary. A precise political and sociological analysis of Syria Street as a proxy-war space and of the Lebanese Army’s role.

“In Northern Lebanon, Separated by a Street Called Syria” – Inkstick Media – long-form article. A contemporary return to Syria Street, attentive to memory, ordinary life and the scars left by earlier rounds of violence.

“Photojournalistic Integrity: Codes of Conduct, Professional Ethics, and the Moral Definition of Press Photography” – Vincent Lavoie / Études photographiques – academic article. The English version of a key text on the ethical construction of photojournalism and press images.

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