This Is Not Fairuz

The cats, the sea, and everything in between.

2025

In 2022, when the economic crisis in her native country was at its peak, she decided to visit her family there. She turned her short trip into a collage-like diary in which she reflects on her relationship with her homeland, which is in a state of protracted decay. The film is composed of spontaneous snapshots capturing the author's stay, interspersed with inserted captions serving as personal, often poetically formulated comments and observations. As a result, the film does not hide its strongly subjective perspective, but at the same time builds on it to make an important statement that shows the transformation of Lebanese society in everyday details such as the appearance of the city itself or in the intimate sphere of the author's family life.

Waltz with Bashir

2008 · ★ 7.7

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

Edge of the Valley

2021 · ★ 10

A nine-year-old Syrian refugee girl contemplates her increasingly bleak future after being forced to drop out of school in the midst of Lebanon’s unprecedented economic collapse and battle with Covid-19.

Stove

2019 · ★ 10

An intimate exploration of life in Bzebdine, a small rural village in Mount Lebanon.

Recovery

2021

Jean-Claude walks his dog in a neighborhood forever stuck in reconstruction. On his trip, he wonders about life, mortality, and 'what if' scenarios while remembering fragments from the direct impact of the second that almost cost him his life on August 4. At the moment of the explosion, the end of the world, bodies, buildings, roads, and cities may shatter. Perhaps the universe itself breaks apart. But the most severe fragmenting remains that of memory. A picture here and a sound there are vaguely reconstituted. Can a future be built from such a memory? Can it rebuild what was lost? Is it time to leave?

The Lady of the Palace

2004 · ★ 10

Sayedat Al-Kasr traces the history of the Joumblatt family of Mount Lebanon from the 17th century to the present, focusing on early 20th century leader and politician Nazira Joumblatt. Born in 1889, Nazira ascended the throne of the Moukhtara palace in 1923, following the assassination of her husband Fouad and the resignation of her brother Aly Joumblatt. She presided over the region as Lady of the Palace for twenty-five years while raising her son Kamal, preparing him to take his place in a long line of Jumblatt leaders. Famous for her wisdom and strong personality, Nazira boldly entered the Lebanese political scene at a time when this field was entirely dominated by men. Unwavering, she contributed to maintaining peace and stability in Lebanon for many years, earning the respect of men and women, whether Druze or Maronites.

Leila and the Cigarette

In early September 2011, Leah decided to go to Lebanon to film her grandmother. Two weeks after the end of filming, her grandmother died of metastatic lung cancer. It would take her 12 years to regain the courage to review their last conversations. Through memories and poems she draws the portrait of her grandmother paying homage to her colorful spirit that made her unique.

We Loved Each Other So Much

2003 · ★ 8.3

Inhabitants of Beirut talk about their love for the singer Fairuz.

Fouad Elkoury par Fouad

2024 · ★ 6

Fouad Elkoury's unique journey, between photojournalism and art photography, from his early days immersed in the complex and tragic history of Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to his travels from the port of Marseille to Istanbul, from Turkey to Egypt, from the 1970s to the present day, punctuated by the photographs that made him famous. An intimate and privileged encounter with one of the greatest photographers in the Arab world, through his personal archives, his travel stories, and his life stories.

Objects of War

2000

‘Objects of War’ is a series of testimonials on the Lebanese war. Each person chooses an object, ordinary or unusual, which serves as a starting point for his / her story. These testimonials while helping to create a collective memory, also show the impossibility of telling a single History of this war. Only fragments of this History are recounted here, held as truth by those expressing them. In ‘Objects of War’, the aim is not to reveal a truth but rather to gather and confront many diverse versions and discourses on the subject. ‘Objects of War’ started in 1999 assembling the testimonials of eleven persons. It was first shown in 2000 . It continued in 2003 with ‘Objects of War n°2’, recording seven additional testimonials. This time however, and since then, the recorded material is left unedited, shown in its integrity. The work of collecting and assembling these stories continued with ‘Objects of War n°3 & n°4’ in 2006 and ‘n°5 & 6’ in 2014.

We Made Every Living Thing from Water

2018

Directors Karim Eid-Sabbagh and Paul Cochrane investigate the political economy of water in Lebanon after the country's trash crisis began in 2015.

The Birds Changed Names And The World Turned Into Ice

2022

Migrant families experience violence, but they also keep beautiful memories when they arrive in new lands. Fantastic and intimate stories, recalled from childhood, travel across time and space, magically intermingling with the help of the four elements and breaking the boundaries of cinema.