Following Netflix’s relief fund to support Lebanon’s film industry, the world’s largest streaming platform recently added a special collection of 34 Lebanese movies titled “Made in Lebanon” to highlight and support the raw talent of Lebanese actors, actresses, and movie makers for the world to see. The dedicated collection features movies from different genres from drama and romance to comedy. And it includes the work of Lebanon’s greatest directors like Maroun Baghdadi, Philippe Aractingi, Randa Chahal Sabagh, Ziad Doueiri, Nadine Labaki, and many more who’re creatively celebrating their country’s rich history and heritage.
Below we’ve collected 10 of our favorites, so scroll down to pick your movie for tonight.
Out of Life
Directed by Maroun Bagdadi in 1991, this beautiful film won a Cannes Jury Prize. It tells the story of a French photographer who got kidnapped in Beirut, and throughout the movie, he tries to maintain his dignity in the face of torture and brainwashing.
The Little Wars
French-Lebanese war movies directed by Maroun Bagdadi in 1982, and it was actually screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival and New York Film Festival in the same year.
Solitaire
A comedy-drama movie directed by Sophie Boutros in 2017, it’s about a Lebanese mother who finds it extremely challenging to welcome her daughter’s Syrian fiancé into the family due to a past tragedy.
Listen
A drama-romance movie directed by Philippe Aractingi in 2017, it revolves around a woman’s parents disapprove of her romance with a handsome, young sound engineer who comes from a completely different social and religious background.
Khabsa
A romantic-comedy movie directed by Shady Hanna in 2013, it revolves around Nayla, a young lady trying to get her ex to propose by hosting a gathering to introduce him to her new fiancé.
Ghadi
A drama-comedy directed by Amin Dora in 2013. Ghadi is a young boy with special needs who spends most of his time making unintelligible sounds that disturb and scare the neighbors.
Zozo
A Swedish-Lebanese war movie directed by Josef Fares in 2005, it shows how Zozo and his grandparents manage to immigrate from Lebanon to Sweden after Zozo lost his parents during the civil war.
The Kite
Directed by Randa Chahal Sabag in 2003, the movie was officially submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards. It tells the story of a fifteen-year-old Lebanese girl who’s forced to marry her cousin across the Israeli border.
West Beirut
Directed by Ziad Doueiri in 1999, the movie is about three fearless teens in the midst of civil war roaming the streets of Beirut filming on a Super 8 camera.
