“Eid’s personal plight, composed as an epistolary address to her deceased father, is entangled with more general symptoms of public paralysis,” writes Saadi Nikro

“We hear many of these stories in the documentary, stories that exemplify Lebanon’s extraordinary tendency to defy whatever would seem to be in its own self-interest”

“Clichés have thick skin. During a projection of my short film last year in Brussels, a woman came to me to tell me that she likes my film but that there wasn’t ‘enough war'”.

Waves ’98 is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating films from postwar Lebanon so far. Moving, elegant and multi-layered, it manages to portray both Omar’s lived experience as well as showing Beirut the current monstrosity that it is.

“Conflicting powers in Lebanon attempting to monopolize truth have created an environment in which “truth” cannot be determined by any recognizable social tool.”

“What About The Destruction Within Me?”. Suspended Dreams (أحلام معلقة), Mai Masri & Jean Khalil Chamoun

Heritages is the story of Philippe Aractingi and his Franco-Lebanese family as they trace back their own family history and compare, contrast it with the history of Lebanon and the whole region.

A list of my favorite movies screened at the 2014 edition of the Lebanese Film Festival

FADE IN: is a Lebanese Cinema Studies Company whose mission is “to help artists express themselves through motion-picture and writing”.

“Maroun Baghdadi’s portrayal of everyday Lebanese during the 70s and 80s evokes haunting images of a nation of fractured identities.”

Incendies tells the story of a quest, an attempt to understand a chaos that the characters inherited. The Lebanese Civil War seen through a different context.

“Before the United States went to the moon, Lebanon had a space program,” wrote IndieWire. Students at Beirut’s Haigaizian University and their Maths and Physics teacher, Manoug Manougian, launched the 1st rocket in the Arab World. Back then, dreams felt achievable, for some reason. It seems unbelievable. People pause in disbelief when I tell them, but […]

By Joey Ayoub This is the program for the 2012 Outbox International Film Festival. It starts on the 14th of June and ends on the 17th  every day at 8pm. Entrance is free. Location: Roman Baths, Downtown Beirut. I’m hoping to attend to as many dates as possible which will be followed by my pics […]

Today at 8pm. Gemmayze St Nicholas Stairs  For more info, check out their page. The Program: Joey‘s Pick for Day 1: Na wewe – Ivan Goldschmit – Belgium – 18:52 min Nice short story about the complexity of identity. A minivan transporting citizens of Burundi is stopped by a band of Hutu rebels who force […]