On July 21, DGA members attending the Special Projects Committee's Global Cinema screening got a look at life during wartime as seen through Samuel Maoz's raw and visceral film Lebanon.

Based on Maoz's own experiences as a 20-year-old soldier serving in the Israeli army during the 1982 Lebanon war, the film follows the crew of a lone tank, dispatched to search a hostile town previously bombarded by the Israeli Air Force. What was supposed to be a simple mission spins out of control, leading the soldiers into a struggle for their very survival.

The grim reality of war is revealed as Maoz restricts the action to the tank's claustrophobia-inducing interior and only shows us the outside world as the four young soldiers themselves see it - through the lens of a periscopic gun sight. Lebanon was the winner of the Golden Lion Award at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

After the screening, Maoz (Total Eclipse) discussed the making of his film with Special Projects Committee Chair Jeremy Kagan (Golda's Balcony).