To Lebanon, With LoveFeaturing work by: Alia Haju, Loulwa Khoury and Myriam El Hajj
Curated by Ginou Choueiri
This October we present To Lebanon, With Love which brings together three intimate documentaries by Lebanese filmmakers each grappling with the seismic shifts surrounding the uprising, which began in October 2019. Whether filmed in Beirut’s charged streets or through the eyes of its diasporic community in New York, these films reflect a collective urge to document and reflect on the nation’s fragile future under the weight of recurring conflict, social unrest, and economic collapse.
On October 5th, we will present Ship of Fools (Alia Haju, 2024), where the filmmaker turns to imagination as resistance. Encountering Abu Samra, a self-fashioned superhero, Haju explores the surreal humor and vulnerability of a people who persist in creating myths of survival. Through dreamlike encounters with personal and collective “monsters,” the film suggests that hope and resistance in Lebanon often takes shape within inner worlds as much as in public struggle. The short will be followed by We Never Left (Loulwa Khoury, 2024) which shifts to the Lebanese diaspora in New York, tracing how exiled citizens remain tethered to their homeland. Following three young expats as they rally for Lebanon from afar, the film underscores how political uprisings reverberate across borders and continents. Here, protest is both a transnational act of solidarity and a deeply personal negotiation of belonging. The screening will be followed by a conversation with both filmmakers Haju and Khoury.
On October 6th, the screening of Diaries from Lebanon (Myriam El Hajj, 2024) opens with a performance/intervention by Perla Joe Maalouly – artist, activist and protagonist of the film which documents four turbulent years of revolt and resilience, weaving together the stories of a feminist activist, a revolutionary youth leader, and a war veteran haunted by the past. As their lives intersect with the country’s unraveling, the film becomes both an archive of resistance and an intimate portrait of Lebanon’s enduring contradictions.
Together, these films form a cinematic love letter to Lebanon and testify that despite political collapse and exile, Lebanon endures in the imagination, voices, and visions of its people—at home and abroad.
Ticket Price: $12 for individual ticket and $20 for a two day pass.
Address: 3-52 Onderdonk Ave, Ridgewood, NY 11385
Oct. 5 :Program
6pm: Doors open
6:15 pm: Ship of Fools (2024), Alia Haju, 30 min.
7:00 pm: We Never Left (2024), Loulwa Khoury, 83 min.
8:30 pm: Post Screening discussion and Q&A with filmmakers Alia Haju and Loulwa Khoury (50 min)
Get tickets here
Oct 6: Program
7pm: Doors Open
7:15pm: Performance/Intervention by Perla Joe Maalouly (15min)
7:30 pm: Diaries from Lebanon (2024), Myriam El Hajj, 110 min
9:30: Post Screening Discussion and Q&A with Perla Joe Maalouly (45 min)
Get tickets here
Film Synopsis:
Ship of Fools, Alia Haju, 2024, Lebanon, Germany, 30 min.
Arabic with English subtitles
Alia and the monsters that have accompanied her since childhood are all too familiar with the images of destruction and ruin that surround Beirut. Being born into a context of war forges certain shields – but also leaves behind vulnerabilities and private inner worlds. In one of these worlds, Alia meets Abu Samra, a man training to become a superhero in order to save Beirut from its many dangers. Abu Samra carries his own monsters, but from within the realm of imagination, he offers glimpses of resistance – even to the filmmaker herself, who steps into the frame.
We Never Left, Loulwa Nader, 2024, United States, Lebanon, 83 min.
Arabic and English with subtitles
Saying goodbye to loved ones at the Beirut airport has become an unfortunate tradition in Lebanon, almost a curse. Lebanese emigrants, driven abroad by decades of turmoil, are more than double those still left in their homeland. After civil protests erupt in Lebanon on October 17th 2019, WE NEVER LEFT follows three young Lebanese expats as they take part in the Lebanese revolution from New York fighting for a better country, each protesting in their own way. As they go through their collective journey, they all individually confront both their relationship with their homeland and their own complicated identities. This is the story of the Lebanese people and revolutions both political and personal.
Dairies from Lebanon, Myriam El Hajj, 2024, Lebanon, France, Qatar, KSA. 110 min.
Arabic with english subtitles
In 2018, a fiery feminist writer, poet and activist named Joumana stands for election to the Lebanese parliament. In doing so, she is defying a political system that has been suffocating her country for 40 years. Joumana is voted in, only to be fraudulently ousted the very next day, leaving her supporters furious. In 2019, the people’s rage turns into a revolution and the streets swell with thousands of voices. One of them belongs to Perla Joe, a fearless woman who rapidly becomes a symbol of this uprising. Her unyielding voice echoes the frustration of a youth struggling to find its place in society. But the past looms like a shadow over their aspirations for progress and change. Georges is the guardian of that mysterious and violent past. A veteran of the Lebanese Civil War which lasted from 1975 to 1990, he lost a leg in the conflict but still clings on to his delusions of “glory”.
In the form of diaries, the film captures four tumultuous years of a nation in turmoil battling to break free from its own chains. As Lebanon is shaken by disruption, personal quests for meaning and survival unfold. How is it possible to continue to dream when everything around is falling apart?
Filmmaker Bios:
Alia Haju is a Brooklyn-based musician and filmmaker. Born in 86’ in South Lebanon and lived there until 1994 when she fled, during the Israeli war on Lebanon, to the UAE and later the US. In 2005 she moved back to Beirut and worked as a visual-journalist covering SWANA. She is director of award winning Ship of Fools’ short and co-author of award-winning feature-doc Kashkash. Musically, Alia performed with her Band ‘Taktouka’ and other bands on famous stages like Lincoln Center, Great American Music Hall, and the Joshua Tree Music Festival.
Loulwa Khoury is a New York based film editor, filmmaker born and raised in Beirut. She edited award-winning feature documentaries Paradise Without People (2019), Dusty and Stones (2022). She also edited Traces of Home and Joy Dancer. She is currently directing her first feature documentary, We Never Left. Her other work includes award-winning documentaries Some Kind of Heaven (2020), City of Ghosts (2017) It Will Be Chaos (2018) and An Act of Worship (2022), White Sauce Hot Sauce (2018), The Joneses (2016) and Look At Us Now, Mother (2015). She was one of the fellows of the Karen Schmeer Editing Fellowship and a fellow in the Sundance Co//ab Art of Editing Fellowship, in the DOC NYC x VC Storytelling Incubator cohort as well as a winner of the Creative Power Award.
Myriam el Hajj is a Lebanese director of documentaries and fiction, known for her bold and engaged perspective on Lebanese society. She holds a degree in audiovisual studies from the Lebanese American University (LAU), as well as in film directing and theater from the University of Paris-8 Vincennes Saint-Denis. Alongside her work as a filmmaker, she teaches cinema at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA), where for over 10 years she has been actively contributing to the transmission of creative expertise to a new generation of Lebanese filmmakers. She is also involved in institutions such as La Fémis in France, among others. Her cinema, both intimate and political, explores themes such as collective memory, identity conflicts, corruption, and the complexity of human relationships in a constantly changing Lebanon. She first gained attention with her debut documentary feature Trêve (2015), which follows her uncle and his friends, former militiamen from the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). Her second film, Diaries from Lebanon (2024), is produced by Myriam Sassine (Abbout Productions) and Gogogo Films. Through an intimate lens, Myriam tells the recent history of Lebanon through three characters she follows from 2018 to 2022. The film premiered at the Berlinale and has since been featured in over 50 festivals worldwide. Myriam is a member of several cinema juries and commissions, such as the CNC. She is also a founding member of the association Rawiyat-Sisters in Film, which supports female filmmakers from the Arab world and the diaspora.
