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Lebanese packed Cinema Days of Beirut, the city's first film fest since the monthlong conflict with Israel this summer. Organized by local film org Beirut DC, the weeklong fest, which ran Sept. 16-23, unspooled films from around the Arab world, as well as Sundance-winning docu "Iraq in Fragments" and local preems of other international pics.
An extra sidebar devoted to short films by Lebanese trapped in the city, as well as those who had fled the violence and were unable to return to their homes, was added at the last minute.
"It was very difficult to organize, but people kept telling us we had to continue because they wanted cultural life to return to Beirut," says Hania Mroue of Beirut DC. "All the screenings have been sold out. People are saying they want this to be a cultural city, not a city of war."
Fest organizers decided to stick to the fest's original dates despite the havoc caused by the fighting. At one point they didn't know if any of the invited filmmakers, or even the film prints, would be able to make it into Lebanon due to the Israeli air and naval blockade. "We were sending out these invitations, but the airport was still closed. In the end some of our guests even paid their own way to show support for the festival," Mroue says.
Fest screenings were held at the Empire cinema and at Metropolis, a new arthouse theater that was a refuge during the war. (Metropolis opened July 11, the day before the fighting began.) Since then, however, the sound of bombs has been replaced by the sounds of munching popcorn and eager applause.
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