How Lebanese cinema turned war into global acclaim

Lebanese filmmakers have spent five decades transforming the trauma of civil war and sectarian conflict into internationally celebrated cinema. Each approached the Lebanese experience of war from a distinct angle, teenage coming-of-age, courtroom drama, dark comedy, docu-fiction road movie, yet all share a refusal to reduce conflict to simple narratives of good versus evil. Together, they form the backbone of a national cinema born from, and defined by, war.

Maroun Baghdadi and the Cinema of Civil War

Beyrouth ya Beyrouth (1975) arrived at a moment of terrible prophecy. Baghdadi's debut feature follows four young Lebanese from different faiths and social classes navigating Beirut between the 1968 Israeli raid on Beirut airport and the death of Egyptian President Nasser in 1970, an impossible love story set against a nation fracturing along sectarian lines.

The film was still being edited when the Lebanese Civil War erupted in April 1975, making it an unintentional forecast of 15 years of devastation. ArteEast, the leading arts organization focused on the Middle East, called it "perhaps the first real masterpiece of Lebanese cinema."

Little Wars (1982) broke through internationally. Shot courageously during active civil war fighting in Beirut, with real destruction serving as backdrop, the film interweaves three characters: Talal, an affluent young man dragged into warlordism after his father's kidnapping; Soraya, a journalist torn between fleeing and documenting; and Nabil, a daredevil photographer dealing drugs amid the chaos. Baghdadi deliberately avoided identifying characters as Christian or Muslim. Talal's mountain home scenes were reportedly filmed at three separate locations so Lebanese viewers could not associate him with any particular region.  

West Beirut captured adolescence and war

West Beirut (1998), Ziad Doueiri's semi-autobiographical debut, reimagined the outbreak of the civil war through the eyes of teenagers. Set in April 1975, it follows Tarek, a high schooler who witnesses the infamous bus massacre of Palestinians by Phalangist forces. The film gradually shifts from comedy to tragedy, ending with archival footage of the broader war and Tarek breaking down while listening to his father play the oud.  The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 1998, where it won the François Chalais Prize.

The Insult earned Lebanon's first-ever Oscar nomination

The Insult (2017) presents Tony Hanna, a Lebanese Christian mechanic, clashing with Yasser Salameh, a Palestinian construction foreman, over a trivial repair job. An exchange of insults, Tony telling Yasser he wishes Ariel Sharon had "wiped them all out", escalates into a nationally televised courtroom drama that reopens wounds from the Damour massacre, Black September, and decades of Lebanese-Palestinian tension.

Doueiri co-wrote the script with Joelle Touma, intentionally balancing perspectives: he grew up in a leftist, pro-Palestinian Muslim household; she was raised in a right-wing Lebanese Christian family.

It became the first Lebanese film ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards in March 2018.

Nadine Labaki's dark comedy won a top audience prize

Where Do We Go Now? (2011) deployed humor and absurdity against sectarian violence. Set in an isolated Lebanese village accessible only by a small bridge and surrounded by landmines, the film follows women of both Christian and Muslim faiths as they conspire to prevent their men from descending into religious warfare. Labaki, who also stars as the lead character Amal, drew on her own Maronite Christian childhood during the civil war. The film's biggest triumph came at the 36th Toronto International Film Festival, where it captured the People's Choice Award, the festival's most prestigious audience prize and a frequent predictor of Oscar contenders.

Under the bombs blurred fiction and reality

Under the Bombs (2007) stands apart for its extraordinary production circumstances. Director Philippe Aractingi began filming during the actual 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war and continued just 10 days after international peacekeepers arrived. Real bombs can be seen exploding in the near distance during certain scenes. Only three professional actors were used; Lebanese civilians, foreign journalists, and UN peacekeepers played versions of themselves. Coffins shown being disinterred contained real bodies. The script was written day by day, with writer Michel Leviant drafting dialogue for same-day filming.

The road movie becomes a meditation on cross-sectarian human connection as Zeina, a wealthy Shiite woman, discovers her sister was killed "under the bombs" and her son was spirited away by a French journalist. In total, the film won 23 awards across more than 40 festival selections, was distributed in 30 countries, and served as Lebanon's official submission for the 81st Academy Awards.

A cinema forged in conflict

These films reveal a consistent pattern: Lebanese filmmakers have not merely documented war but transformed it into art that resonates across cultures. The films collectively span every phase of Lebanese conflict, from the pre-civil-war tensions of 1970 to the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, creating an almost continuous cinematic chronicle.

They are returned to, again and again, by Lebanese audiences themselves. Because in these stories, they see fragments of their own lives, fear, resilience, absurdity, survival, reframed and made visible. In a country where history is often fragmented, denied, or left unresolved, cinema becomes a form of memory that refuses to fade. It holds what cannot always be said, and preserves what cannot be officially recorded. Long after the wars end, these films remain, as testimonies to the human experience of living through it.