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A selection of films from Lebanon exploring identity, memory, and everyday life, reflecting the country’s culture, history, and resilience.
Every night, Laura, a Lebanese girl who emigrated to Northern Europe, reappears in the family home she left behind in Beirut. As her voice echoes through the dark and dusty living room, fragmented souvenirs start to form and paint the picture of the life that was once lived between these walls.
Director Biography - Pierre Mouzannar
Pierre Mouzannar is a Lebanese filmmaker based in Beirut. He studied film in London, directing An Arabian Night which premiered at Clermont-Ferrand in 2020, receiving a special mention and achieving the highest audience rating at the festival. His second short film Those Who Never Left has won multiple prizes in France, Jordan, Algeria and Lebanon. He served as President of the Jury for the La Cabina section at the Mostra of Valencia in 2025. Pierre often collaborates as editor on Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige’s art films such as Bab el Tebbeneh and Sarcophagus of Drunken Loves which was selected in Berlin International Film Festival. He also worked as an assistant editor on Nadine Labaki’s Oscar-nominated Capernaum and collaborated with Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared.
Director Statement
This film is born out of an observation that haunted me in the wake of Lebanon’s 2021 mass emigration. I saw a paradox unfold: those who fled the country under immense pressure, whether economic collapse, political dysfunction, or sheer survival, remained mentally trapped in the very trauma they were escaping. Meanwhile, those who stayed, out of necessity or resilience, had no choice but to keep moving forward. In a cruel irony, it was the act of leaving that froze one’s perception of Lebanon at the moment of departure, trapping the emigrant in a state of emotional exile.
I was struck by the contrast in how Lebanon was perceived. Emigrants, caught between two worlds, carried unresolved resentment, unable to forgive the country, yet unable to belong elsewhere. Meanwhile, those who stayed, despite facing the same hardships, were more adaptable, forced to evolve with the changing tides.
This dichotomy is not new. The Levant has been shaped by emigration for centuries. Each wave of upheaval, be it war, economic collapse, or foreign intervention, has chipped away at its social fabric. The flight of the educated middle class, the disappearance of confessional minorities, and the slow erosion of Lebanon’s cosmopolitan spirit have fundamentally altered the landscape of the region. The Middle East, once a vibrant mosaic of civilizations, is now marked by the echoes of those who have vanished.
I grew up in Beirut, surrounded by the eerie presence of abandoned homes, silent witnesses to generations of forced departures. These homes, frozen in time, contain the traces of lives suddenly interrupted. They remain filled with ghosts, with memories that refuse to fade.
Yet, there is an inevitable realization for those who leave: after losing your home, the only home you have is within yourself. Displacement forces an intimacy with one’s own solitude. It strips away the external markers of identity and leaves you face to face with your own essence. This is why the film is deeply introspective in tone. It is less about a country and more about the interior landscape of those who have been uprooted. It explores the quiet moments of reckoning, the unspoken dialogues with memory, and the search for an internal refuge when the physical one has been lost.
A selection of films from Lebanon exploring identity, memory, and everyday life, reflecting the country’s culture, history, and resilience.
Every night, Laura, a Lebanese girl who emigrated to Northern Europe, reappears in the family home she left behind in Beirut. As her voice echoes through the dark and dusty living room, fragmented souvenirs start to form and paint the picture of the life that was once lived between these walls.
Director Biography - Pierre Mouzannar
Pierre Mouzannar is a Lebanese filmmaker based in Beirut. He studied film in London, directing An Arabian Night which premiered at Clermont-Ferrand in 2020, receiving a special mention and achieving the highest audience rating at the festival. His second short film Those Who Never Left has won multiple prizes in France, Jordan, Algeria and Lebanon. He served as President of the Jury for the La Cabina section at the Mostra of Valencia in 2025. Pierre often collaborates as editor on Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige’s art films such as Bab el Tebbeneh and Sarcophagus of Drunken Loves which was selected in Berlin International Film Festival. He also worked as an assistant editor on Nadine Labaki’s Oscar-nominated Capernaum and collaborated with Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared.
Director Statement
This film is born out of an observation that haunted me in the wake of Lebanon’s 2021 mass emigration. I saw a paradox unfold: those who fled the country under immense pressure, whether economic collapse, political dysfunction, or sheer survival, remained mentally trapped in the very trauma they were escaping. Meanwhile, those who stayed, out of necessity or resilience, had no choice but to keep moving forward. In a cruel irony, it was the act of leaving that froze one’s perception of Lebanon at the moment of departure, trapping the emigrant in a state of emotional exile.
I was struck by the contrast in how Lebanon was perceived. Emigrants, caught between two worlds, carried unresolved resentment, unable to forgive the country, yet unable to belong elsewhere. Meanwhile, those who stayed, despite facing the same hardships, were more adaptable, forced to evolve with the changing tides.
This dichotomy is not new. The Levant has been shaped by emigration for centuries. Each wave of upheaval, be it war, economic collapse, or foreign intervention, has chipped away at its social fabric. The flight of the educated middle class, the disappearance of confessional minorities, and the slow erosion of Lebanon’s cosmopolitan spirit have fundamentally altered the landscape of the region. The Middle East, once a vibrant mosaic of civilizations, is now marked by the echoes of those who have vanished.
I grew up in Beirut, surrounded by the eerie presence of abandoned homes, silent witnesses to generations of forced departures. These homes, frozen in time, contain the traces of lives suddenly interrupted. They remain filled with ghosts, with memories that refuse to fade.
Yet, there is an inevitable realization for those who leave: after losing your home, the only home you have is within yourself. Displacement forces an intimacy with one’s own solitude. It strips away the external markers of identity and leaves you face to face with your own essence. This is why the film is deeply introspective in tone. It is less about a country and more about the interior landscape of those who have been uprooted. It explores the quiet moments of reckoning, the unspoken dialogues with memory, and the search for an internal refuge when the physical one has been lost.