Lebanese Cinema Week to Launch this Month, Here Are the Details

Cinephiles, prepare to dive into Lebanon’s cinematic past! The Ministry of Culture is hosting “Cinema Week”, an annual nationwide celebration of iconic Lebanese cinematic archives.

From September 21 until September 26, eight cinemas across Lebanon will showcase treasures from the Lebanese film archive. Here are all the details!

Where can you catch the screenings?

Six Lebanese films will be screened in Beirut, Tripoli, Saida, Hammana, Amioun, Nabatieh, and Baalbeck, giving audiences across the country a chance to revisit the classics that shaped Lebanese cinema.

Here are the cinemas and institutions that will host screenings:

In Beirut

Metropolis Cinema, Mar Mikhael

Cinema Royal, Bourj Hammoud

KED Beirut, Karantina

National Library, Sanayeh

Outside Beirut

Baalbeck Cultural Center, Baalbeck

Ishbilia Theater and Art Hub, Saida

Hammana Artist House, Hammana

Oakura, Freikeh

Municipality of Amioun

Women’s Advancement Association, Nabatieh

Is it free?

Yes! Each screening is free and open to the public, inviting both longtime cinephiles and new generations to experience these cultural treasures firsthand.

Which Lebanese films?

The Ministry of Culture will feature six classic Lebanese films during Cinema Week. The line-up promises a journey through Lebanon’s cinematic heritage, from black-and-white classics to films that shaped cultural memory.

Here are the films that will be screened across Lebanon:

1. Ila Ayn? (1957)

Dates & times:

Le Colisée in Hamra on September 21, 2025 at 7 PM

Metropolis Cinema in Mar Mikhael on September 24, 2025 at 8 PM

A poor mountain family is torn when the father abandons them to emigrate to Brazil. Twenty years later, the mother struggles with raising their children. The elder son has a family and the younger plans to follow in his father’s footsteps, but everything changes when a ragged old stranger appears in the village.

Did you know this was the first-ever Lebanese film selected for the Cannes Film Festival? You can read about it here!

2. Une Vie au Cœur du Cinéma (2025)

Dates & times:

National Library in Sanayeh on September 22, 2025 at 6 PM

Baalbeck Cultural Center on September 22, 2025 at 7 PM

Oakura in Freikeh on September 22, 2025 at 8 PM

Walid Chmait, Une vie au cœur du cinéma is a 2025 documentary by Salim Saab in tribute to his father Walid Chmait, tracing his multifaceted career as journalist, TV/radio host, actor and film critic, and gathering testimonies from those who worked with him after his passing in 2024.

3. Hamasat (1980)

Dates & times:

Women’s Advancement Association in Nabatieh on September 23, 2025 at 6 PM

Municipality of Amioun on September 23, 2025 at 7 PM

Oakura in Freikeh on September 23, 2025 at 8 PM

The poet Nadia Tueni travels across war-torn Lebanon with photojournalist Nabil Ismail, reflecting on memory, loss, and hope. The film interweaves voiceovers, ruined landscapes and interviews with ordinary people to reveal both the devastation of the war and the yearning for renewal.

4. Leila and the Wolves (1984)

Dates & times:

Metropolis Cinema in Mar Mikhael on September 23, 2025 at 8 PM

Hammana Artist House in Hammana on September 24, 2025 at 6 PM

Ishbilia Theater in Saida on September 24, 2025 at 7 PM

Al Azm Cultural Center in Tripoli on September 25, 2025 at 6 PM

Directed by Heiny Srour, it’s a hybrid drama-documentary that follows Leila, a Lebanese woman living in London, who through a time-traveling journey explores the hidden and often undocumented role of women in Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements from the early 1900s up to the 1980s.

5. Once Upon a Time, Beirut (1994)

Dates & times:

Baalbeck Cultural Center in Baalbeck on September 24, 2025 at 7 PM

Ishbilia Theater in Saida on September 24, 2025 at 7 PM

Cinema Royal in Bourj Hammoud on September 24, 2025 at 8 PM

Metropolis Cinema in Mar Mikhael on September 25, 2025 at 8 PM

Once Upon a Time, Beirut (1994) by Jocelyne Saab follows two young women, Yasmine and Leila, born during the civil war, as they search for the Beirut they never knew. Guided by a cinephile’s vast archive, they explore how the city has been imagined and mythologized on screen, confronting the gap between cinema’s Beirut and their war-scarred reality.

6. Sahriye (1973)

Dates & times:

KED Beirut in Karantina on September 26, 2025 at 7 PM

Baalbeck Cultural Center in Baalbeck on September 26, 2025 at 7 PM

Oakura in Freikeh on September 26, 2025 at 8 PM

Cinema Royal in Bourj Hammoud on September 26, 2025 at 8 PM

Sahriye (1973) is a musical play by the late Ziad Rahbani set in the café Nakhla Al Tiniyn, where villagers gather to sing and socialize. When the resident singer considers retiring, the community debates finding a replacement, blending music, humor, and everyday village life.

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