West Beirut (1998)

Origin: France | Norway | Lebanon | Belgium | Fiction | Director: Ziad Doueiri | 105 minutes

West Beirut

Ziad Doueiri 1998 Drama 105 min.

This directorial debut from Tarantino cameraman, Doueiri is a
semiautobiographical account of his childhood in Lebanon during the civil
war. The film features superb performances from a young cast whose
characters explore warravaged Beirut with their Super 8 camera, bearing
witness to the increasingly brutal war from a youthful, naive and exuberant
perspective. Doueiri has said that 'during the first years of the civil
war, despite the anxiety that I could sense in my parents, I was incapable
of feeling it myself...I wasn't born with fear I acquired it.' His
beautifully shot film offers an account of the process by which excitement
and freedom was turned into fear and exile. Winner - FIPRESCI Award Toronto
International Film Festival, 1998 Best First Film Award Carthage Film
Festival, 1998.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUAHd5T6-L8&list=PLW1SVqrJxny1MEQHMWuBcQrfqm-Hy8CGf&index=3&t=0s&app=desktop

Director's interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR0Fe2GetGU&list=PLW1SVqrJxny1MEQHMWuBcQrfqm-Hy8CGf&index=4


View trailer