Second Lebanese Cinema Week to Launch Free Screenings Across Multiple Regions

The Lebanese Ministry of Culture and the Cinémathèque Libanaise will host the second edition of Lebanese Cinema Week across five regions and nine venues from October 26 to October 30, 2026, featuring free screenings of five restored and digitized local films.

Free Screenings Across Nine Venues in Five Regions

The five-day program expands beyond the capital to bring restored regional cinema to audiences across Lebanon entirely free of charge. The screenings are organized by the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the Cinémathèque Libanaise to honor directors, storytellers, and past generations who shaped the country’s cultural landscape. The program spans nine locations spread across five regions: Beirut, Matn, Shouf, the South, and the North.

Venues in Beirut include Metropolis Cinema, the National Library, and Sursock Museum. The Matn region hosts screenings at Oakura in Al-Frayke. Shouf features events at Farmville in Al-Barouk. In the South, screenings take place at the Istishbiliya Theater and the Maarouf Saad Center in Sidon. The North includes the CLAC center in Amyoun and the Marsah space in Tripoli.

Restored Heritage and Preserved Archives

The initiative seeks to revive local cinematic memory and provide broad access to prominent fiction and documentary works that chronicle Lebanon’s social and political transformations. The festival highlights audiovisual works that faced significant preservation challenges over decades due to war, destruction, humidity, and political crises. For a long time, important films remained stored in archives across Europe and the Middle East rather than screening locally for the general public.

The five selected films span decades of Lebanese filmmaking. Jocelyn Saab’s 1985 feature The Razor’s Edge (غزل البنات) opens the event on October 26 at the Lebanese National Library in Sanayeh with members of the restoration team present, alongside screenings at Metropolis Cinema in Mar Mikhael and Oakura in Al-Frayke. Ghassan Salhab’s 1998 feature Beyrouth Fantôme (أشباح بيروت) portrays post-war capital landscapes. Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige’s 2012 documentary The Lebanese Rocket Society (مجتمع الصواريخ اللبنانية) records a 1960s scientific project. Ahmad Ghosin’s 2019 feature All This Victory (جدار الصوت) is set during the July 2006 war, and Elie Dagher’s 2021 feature The Sea Ahead (البحر أمامكم) examines return, alienation, and urban change in Beirut.

Screening Schedule From October 26 to October 30

The daily public schedule for the five-day retrospective runs from October 26 through October 30, 2026. Monday, October 26, features The Razor’s Edge at the National Library at 6:00 p.m. with the restoration team, followed by a 6:30 p.m. screening of the same film at Metropolis Cinema, and All This Victory at Oakura in Al-Frayke at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 27, schedules The Razor’s Edge at the CLAC center in Amyoun at 6:00 p.m., Beyrouth Fantôme at Metropolis Cinema at 6:30 p.m., and The Razor’s Edge again at Oakura at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, October 28, programs The Lebanese Rocket Society at Metropolis Cinema at 6:30 p.m. and Beyrouth Fantôme at Oakura at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 29, offers multiple simultaneous time slots: The Lebanese Rocket Society screens at the CLAC center in Amyoun at 6:00 p.m., at Sursock Museum in Beirut at 7:00 p.m., and at Oakura at 7:30 p.m., while All This Victory plays at the Maarouf Saad Center in Sidon at 7:00 p.m. and at Farmville in Al-Barouk at 8:00 p.m.

The final day on Friday, October 30, concludes with The Lebanese Rocket Society at the Istishbiliya Theater in Sidon at 6:00 p.m., The Razor’s Edge at Sursock Museum at 7:00 p.m., The Sea Ahead at the Marsah space in Tripoli at 7:00 p.m. and at Oakura at 7:30 p.m., and The Lebanese Rocket Society closing at Farmville in Al-Barouk at 8:00 p.m.