Rabih El Zaher

In 1958, while revolution is rumbling in Beirut, three sisters spend their holidays in an isolated village of Lebanese mountains: rebellious Nada, romantic Eva, and the eldest Layla, a good woman, beloved by everyone. But the war threatens and the sudden entrance of two French summer vacationers leads Layla to revolt against patriarchal society.

Lebanon, 1982. To keep a promise made to an old friend, Georges, an idealistic theater director, travels to Beirut for a project as utopian as it is risky: to stage the play Antigone on the front line, in order to steal a moment of peace from the raging civil war. The characters will be played by actors from different political and religious camps. Lost in a city and a conflict he knows nothing about, Georges is guided by Marwan. As fighting resumes, everything is soon called into question, and Georges, who falls in love with Imane, has to face up to the reality of war.

A young man's tragic death at Beirut's seaside causes his friends to grapple with loss and to partake in his community's rites and ceremonies, exposing the city's schisms and its society's fault lines

"Riverbed" tells the story of Salma and her returning daughter Thuraya, and their attempt to preserve, maintain and reconstruct their lives with and against each other. Salma survived many years by protecting her independence, she reached her peace through letting go of any attachments. But the past does not let go of Salma and brings back Thuraya, defeated, divorced, and pregnant.

In a future where the Arab world is brutally divided, the young revolutionary Mariam is trying hard to distinguish friend from foe as she clashes with her leader Kamal right ahead of her camp’s biggest battle against a ruthless enemy.

A young woman makes her way back home to her parents’ house in the middle of the night leaving a bad experience behind. Haunting pressures to fit back into the family dynamics as well as revealing details of her life abroad weigh heavy on her. Feeling cornered, her anxieties resurface, leading her to find solace in another part of her Beirut life that she had forsaken. A life that is for her as familiar and foreign now as it ever was.