Beirut International Women Film Festival: Celebrating women in film

BEIRUT: With their voices heard, now more than ever, it is no surprise that the echoes reach the MENA region as festival founder Sam Lahoud uses his drive and passion for cinema and the industry to lay the red carpet, this time for the women of the industry.

Under the patronage of the Minister of State for Women Affairs, Mr. Jean Ogassabian, Beirut Film Society held a press conference on Friday February 23, 2018 at 10:30 am at Lancaster Plaza Hotel-Beirut to launch the first edition of Beirut International Women Film Festival (BWFF) under the theme “Women for Change.”

“We were all in agreement when the idea first came about to found a festival of this nature,” Ogassabian stated. “It is time that proper portrayals of Lebanese women and Arab women are seen on the screen.”

The festival will be gathering filmmakers and cinema lovers from all over the world to witness and discuss films about women and by women filmmakers.

BWFF will be tackling issues related to gender equality, sexual identity, and domestic violence among others, through the power of the lens and cinema, the window to society.

The international selection of films will highlight women’s stories of success, and their willpower to generate change.

It will encompass the screening of 55 films from 30 countries, along with two seminars that will focus on “Women in Leadership” and on “Breaking the Stereotype of Women in Media and Film”.

Some of the Lebanese film selections include: the popular Lebanese web-series Zyara which has been merged into a sixty-minute film, along with Go Home and Solitaire, two strong contenders in the feature film category, and a variety of short films as well.

The festival’s opening night film will be Egyptian film A Day for Women, in the presence of the film’s producer and actress Elham Chahine, as well as the film’s entire team.

BWFF’s jury slate is rich with established women in the industry.

Diamand Bou Abboud headlines the feature film jury along with Rose-Marie Chehine, and Malak Dahmouni; Julia Kassar, Carole Abboud, and Svetlana Parshina unite for the feature documentary jury; and finally, the short film jury brings together Lina Khoury, and Dima Geagea two strong Lebanese women in the industry, along with Alexia Roider.

An advocate of the future generations of filmmakers Sam Lahoud sees this festival as the first step in truly recognizing and celebrating the women in the industry, specifically in Lebanon where women hold more positions in the industry than men.

The film festival’s icon is the symbol of the goddess Tanit who was highly worshipped in the Phoenician culture.

Beirut International Women Film Festival will be celebrated from March 13 to 18, 2018 at ABC Grand Cinemas Achrafieh and Verdun, and in partnership with Hivos.