A new generation of independent filmmakers in Lebanon

Lebanon's independent filmmakers are finding ways to produce work in a country where artistic talent is abundant but the resources needed to sustain it remain scarce. Yet beyond the challenge of financing productions, filmmakers must also navigate questions about who gets to tell the region's stories and which narratives attract support. 

These pressures have encouraged a younger generation of filmmakers to build its own networks of collaboration, from informal production partnerships to grassroots festivals that connect local artists with international audiences.

“The strongest pillar of Lebanon's film community is the artists themselves, and the people supporting them and coming to their events,” Lebanese filmmaker Habib Habib, who recently co-organized the independent film festival Here & Elsewhere, told The Beiruter

They all want to be part of something, to support Lebanese and Arab cinema and help it grow. Everyone is excited to create and see art be made after years of enduring.

In the face of these competing pressures and a renewed determination to create, how can a country with an established filmmaking tradition develop the financial opportunities, professional networks and audiences needed to support its next generation of directors?

The economics of making a film

The financial obstacles facing Lebanese filmmakers are not new, but successive crises have made it harder to build careers around film production. Equipment, crews and experienced professionals are available locally, yet financing often depends on international grants and foreign producers. For emerging directors, securing resources can become as demanding as filmmaking itself.

Independent initiatives are creating alternative channels for financing and exhibition. Founded in 2025, the nonprofit festival Here & Elsewhere connects filmmakers with audiences in Beirut and a rotating international city, directing proceeds toward new productions.

Following its inaugural editions in Beirut and Barcelona, the festival returned to Beirut from October 8 to 10, 2026, screening 19 films, with a Rome edition scheduled for November. Half of its ticket profits support Lebanese filmmaker Cindy Chehab's documentary in development, while the remainder goes to grassroots organization Nation Station.

Yet technical expertise alone cannot sustain an industry.

“We have the spaces, the people, the crews,” Habib said, “but the issue is that no one's getting paid fairly.” 

Without the financing available to filmmakers in larger production markets, he explained, many Lebanese artists look abroad for professional opportunities.

Everyone is so talented, whether in production, directing or any other aspect of filmmaking. But because people are leaving, fewer people are here making films.

Artistic emigration might receive less attention than the departure of doctors or engineers, but it also deprives Lebanon of expertise, professional networks and mentors for younger filmmakers. International collaboration offers opportunities without necessarily providing a sustainable domestic market.

The value of artistic work

The financial demands of filmmaking also raise questions of class and access. For Chehab, currently based in Ireland, grants and residencies provide essential support, but accessing them often requires professional connections and financial security.

“We never talk about class and money as artists,” Chehab told The Beiruter.

Greater transparency among artists, she argues, could help filmmakers navigate funding opportunities without established professional networks.

“People never talk about how they're funding their work, and this is a conversation we should be having more often,” she said.

How do you sustain yourself as an artist? Of course it's challenging, so we learn to create our own opportunities somehow.

The problem is not confined to Lebanon. UNESCO's 2026 Re|Shaping Policies for Creativity report found that direct public funding for culture remains below 0.6% of global GDP, underscoring the limited public resources available to creative industries internationally.

Here & Elsewhere’s screenings, programming and international coordination depend on people contributing their time without pay, many of whom are themselves seeking professional opportunities in the industry. Its organizers reported a team of approximately 50 people internationally, including 30 in Beirut. 

“Young people are coming together and realizing that we need to support each other,” Lilith Blazek, independent filmmaker and fellow co-organizer of Here & Elsewhere, told  The Beiruter.

We're young, and we have a lot of hope and momentum. People are reaching out and supporting the community.

Who gets to tell the story

Financing also influences which stories reach audiences. International grants, film festivals and distribution networks provide important opportunities for Lebanese filmmakers, but they can also introduce expectations about the subjects and experiences that films from the region should portray.

International audiences often encounter Lebanese and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) cinema through stories of conflict and displacement. Yet the work of younger filmmakers encompasses a far wider range of experiences, from nightlife and romantic relationships to the ordinary tensions of family and social life. Habib pointed to films about Beirut's techno scene, young people attending raves and intimate relationships as examples of stories that challenge the assumption that regional cinema must primarily document hardship.

The distinction is not necessarily between political and apolitical filmmaking. A film about everyday life in Lebanon may still be informed by the country's circumstances without making those circumstances its central subject.

“Every exhibition is expected to be about crises and wars, but those experiences are often in the background of whatever story the artist is trying to tell,” Habib said.

You can't really run away from reality, but it doesn't necessarily need to be the backdrop all the time.

These expectations can also influence how films are received abroad. Blazek argues that international festival programming can reduce the experiences of people from the region to a narrow set of narratives.

“In European and Western film festivals, you often see two extremes: either the vilification or the victimization of people living in the SWANA region,” Blazek said. 

Neither of those narratives reflects reality. People watching these films elsewhere often overlook the complexities of life here, which is about much more than suffering.

The concern is not that films about war or suffering lack artistic value, but that their prominence can obscure other dimensions of life in the region. Creating space for a greater diversity of stories, however, also requires ensuring that the filmmakers behind them have the resources to continue producing work.

Lebanon's filmmakers have demonstrated their ability to produce films despite repeated disruptions. The challenge now is to translate that creative determination into lasting professional opportunities, allowing more artists to build careers and reach audiences without having to leave the country to do so.