As a journalist and filmmaker, Jocelyne Saab focused on vulnerable people, from displaced groups to war victims. Her work is marked by the actions necessary to document historical violence. Born and raised in Beirut, Saab is considered a pioneer of Lebanese cinema. When the Lebanese Civil War broke out, she started making documentaries. Later, her work evolved to a more personal and essayistic style.

In Children of War, she meets heavily traumatised children left behind after escaping a massacre in a Muslim neighbourhood in Beirut. Saab gave the children crayons and encouraged them to draw while she filmed. She observed that, for them, the war would soon become a way of life.