After the civil war, brilliant Lebanese filmmakers set out to share stories from Lebanon’s capital Beirut to the world.
Some shed light on the tragedies of conflict and its lingering effects, while others moved on and showed Beirut in a different light altogether.
Produced sometime in the last 20 years, here are 5 films that depicted Beirut:
#1 West Beirut
The 1998 film West Beirut follows three friends roaming the streets of Beirut during the onset of the 1975 Lebanese Civil War when the Lebanese capital was divided by the Green Line into a western “Muslim/mixed side” and an eastern “Christian side”.
#2 Caramel
The 2007 film Caramel is the first feature film of celebrated Lebanese director Nadine Labaki. Caramel mainly takes place at a hair salon in the heart of Beirut, where five Lebanese women share their daily struggle with society’s taboos.
#3 Capernaum
Another Labaki film, depicting a different side of Beirut, is the award-winning, Oscar-nominated Capernaum (2018). The film revolves around the life of a 12-year-old boy from the slums of Beirut as he attempts to sue his parents for child neglect.
#4 The Insult
The critically-acclaimed 2017, The Insult, directed by Ziad Doueiri, who also directed West Beirut, is set in the capital and takes on racial issues in Lebanon intertwined with the long-lasting trauma effects of civil war.
#5 74 The Reconstitution of a Struggle
The 2012 film 74 The Reconstitution of a Struggle by Rania and Raed Rafei shines a light on students of the American University of Beirut (AUB) who occupied offices at the university for 37 days in 1974 in protest of a tuition increase.
The movie couldn’t be more relevant to today’s events as students are currently protesting AUB’s decision to raise tuition fees to the 3,900 LBP exchange rate.