Two Lebanese films which were directed by Oscar-nominated directors will be screened in Dubai cinemas with proceeds going directly to the Red Cross following last week’s massive explosion in Beirut port.
Middle East film distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has recently launched the Beirut Relief Screening in partnership with the Kuwait National Cinema Company and UAE arthouse cinema Cinema Akil to screen Ziad Doueiri’s 1988 feature debut West Beirut and Nadine Labaki’s 2011 comedic drama film Where Do We Go Now?
Doueiri was Oscar-nominated in 2018 for The Insult, while Labaki followed this up in 2019 for Capernaum (becoming the first female Arab director to be nominated).
The screening will take place on August 10 and again over the weekend of August 14 and August 15.
All proceeds from the ticket sales of the screenings will go to the Lebanese Red Cross relief efforts.
“Both West Beirut and Where Do We Go Now? are reflections of Lebanese society that through unity, work to overcome the conditions of volatile political geography” said Front Row CEO Gianluca Chakra. “These films also carry in them the scars felt by Lebanese that have lived and survived the war.”
Added Chakra: “I am part Lebanese and spent a large chunk of my youth in school and university in Beirut. The same applies to some of our team. The place is near and dear to our hearts. Seeing the damage from that explosion truly affected us all at Front Row and these screenings with our close partners Cinema Akil are a way for me to give back to my home country. I’m confident in Lebanon’s people and in their ability to always rise above tragedy and move forward.”
The explosion at Beirut port has left more than 200 people dead, thousands wounded, and an estimated 300,000 homeless and without access to basic needs and resources.
