Pick a year. The most recent completed edition is
first, and every year below shows only what the
festival actually recorded.
2017–24
Canada
Eight earlier editions.
These are the festival's own edition labels. The old
website kept photographs of these years but no
programme, jury or guest list, so this page does not
claim one. If you have the details for a year, add
them under the list.
2024Canada, eighth edition
2023Canada, seventh edition
2022Canada, sixth edition
2021Canada, fifth edition
2020Canada, fourth edition
2019Canada, third edition
2018Canada, second edition
2017Our cinematic journey in Canada started
Photographs from every edition since 2017 are on the
archived site:
the
photo archive.
Opening night at the Rialto Theatre,
Montréal. Nine features, thirty-three
shorts, two juries.
2025 · Guests
Who was in the room.
Guest of honourCarmen LebbosCame for the West Beirut retrospective and stayed for the discussion afterwards, then did it again for the Ziad Rahbani tribute.Festival guestMichel HouranyMet audiences on 1 October at the Rialto Theatre in Montréal, and on 4 October at Ciné Starz, St Laurent Centre, Ottawa.Festival guestCarlos AzarMet audiences on 1 October at the Rialto Theatre in Montréal, and on 4 October at Ciné Starz, St Laurent Centre, Ottawa.Festival guestBadih Abou ChakraMet audiences on 1 October at the Rialto Theatre in Montréal, and on 4 October at Ciné Starz, St Laurent Centre, Ottawa.Master of ceremonyKaren BoustanyOpened the edition at the Rialto Theatre in Montréal on 1 October, and held the evenings together across the week.
2025 · Jury
Two juries and a president.
Read off the festival's own jury cards, each of which
prints the juror's name above the jury that person
sat on.
Honorary President of the Jury
Danièle HenkelAn iconic figure in Quebec entrepreneurship.
Feature Films jury
Rachid BadouriStand-up comedian and actor, with a Netflix special and more than a million tickets sold worldwide.Natalie TannousA trilingual Montrealer of Egyptian-Lebanese descent, on screen in Lovely Day, Montreal Girls, Red Rooms and Antigone.Ziad ToumaBorn in Beirut, based in Montréal. Award-winning producer, director and screenwriter, and founder of Couzin Films.Hassan MradA Lebanese actor of more than twenty-five years on screen and stage, and a graduate of the Lebanese University Faculty of Fine Arts.
Short Films jury
Diane MagnouxProgramming Director of CINEMANIA, Montréal’s leading francophone film festival.Badih Abou ChakraA Lebanese actor, with a master’s degree in acting from the Lebanese University.Mireille Tremblay-CaronFour years at the helm of the REGARD Festival’s Short Film Market, and a member of its programming selection committee.
One surname is spelled two ways by the archive
itself and is worth a second pair of eyes: the jury
cards print Abou Chakra in the headline and
Abou Chakra in the body text. The second is
used here because it is the spelling that appears in
running prose, in two separate places.
2025 · Official selection
Nine features, thirty-three shorts.
The features
Disorder
Four short stories explore the turmoil of recent years in Lebanon, highlighting the psychological effects of the country's collapse on a generation of youth striving to confront and cope with ongoing injustices.
Disorder
Rated 18+
Bornstars
Five friends, one mission, $7,000 in ten days. A group of friends in Lebanon decide to shoot the first Lebanese pornographic film as a way to raise money.
Bornstars
Yalla Baba
Angie (34) takes her father Mansour (74) on a road trip from Brussels to Beirut by car in an attempt to retrace the same path he took 42 years ago. However, the route is no longer the same, and neither is their relationship.
Yalla Baba
The Third Rahbani
The Third of the Rahbanis chronicles the extraordinary journey of the late Lebanese composer Elias El Rahbani, who carved his own unique path distinct from his renowned brothers, Assi and Mansour. Elias's innovative compositions and collaborations have left an indelible mark on the Arab music world, cementing his legacy as a visionary artist.
The Third Rahbani
Letters
In late 2023, during the war on Gaza, 18 Lebanese filmmakers came together to express their feelings through letters they exchanged and turned into short films. The work on these films was completed in late May 2024, without them realizing that the full-scale aggression was heading their way, making Lebanon the next target for destruction.
We Never Left
Set during the Lebanese revolution, We Never Left portrays a heart-wrenching duality between Beirut and New York, an impassioned testament to the Lebanese diaspora's unrequited but irrepressible love for their homeland.
We Never Left
Supported release in Canada
Mille Secrets Mille Dangers
Alain weds Virginie at Saint-Joseph Oratory's crypt. Despite family attending, including his divorced Lebanese-Egyptian immigrant parents, his joy fades as insomnia, anxiety, and illness return.
Mille Secrets Mille Dangers
Retrospective
West Beirut
Growing up is only half the battle. In 1975, as the Lebanese civil war erupts, childhood friends Tarek and Omar find their lives shattered by the conflict. When they attempt to cross the city's dividing line from West to East — where Muslim and Christian neighbourhoods meet — their loyalties and survival are tested amid escalating violence.
West Beirut
Special screening
Bel Nesbeh La Bokra Chou
A play by Ziad Rahbani set during the Lebanese Civil War, depicting the struggles of a bartender, Zakaria, and his wife, Thorayya, who take on increasingly desperate measures to survive the high cost of living and poverty in Beirut. The play uses a trendy bar as a microcosm for Lebanese society, with characters representing different social forces and classes.
Bel Nesbeh La Bokra Chou
Show the thirty-three short films
Every title here comes from the name of its own
poster file, because the archived programme
printed the synopses with no title attached to
any of them. Three are imperfect in the source
and are left as the source has them rather than
tidied into a guess: one is truncated, one is
misspelled, and the archive gives two different
films the same synopsis. The posters carry the
titles as artwork, which is the check.
Behind the FilterCassette one last tapeDawn Every DayDeath and Other FearsEbb & FlowFar From ItFarheenGhasléI Come from the SeaI Leave My Little Heart in My …I Stole the Keys of my Own HouseIN – OUTLove IntenseMouzakaraMystic MuffinPast PerfectPictureQuellSaint RoseShameShip of FoolsShutterSilent WatersSultana’s ReignThe Ant That Crossed My SketchThe Past is CallingThe Resilience of the PoppyThe Sky Never Disappointed AnyoneThe son of the campTout Va ChangerTransmisisonYaroun 2023Zawaya
Ten prizes were given at the ninth Canadian edition,
across features, shorts, directing, writing and two
audience awards voted in the room.
Film of the Year1,000 $US
Film de l’AnnéeDisorderLucien Bourjeily, Bane Fakih, Wissam Charaf, Areej Mahmoud
Best Feature Fiction Film
Meilleur Film de FictionDisorderLucien Bourjeily, Bane Fakih, Wissam Charaf, Areej Mahmoud
Best Feature Documentary
Meilleur Film DocumentaireYalla, Baba!Angie Obeid
Special Jury Mention
Mention SpécialeThe Third RahbaniFeyrouz Serhal
Best Short Fiction Film500 $US
Meilleur Court-Métrage de FictionEbb & FlowNay Tabbara
Best Short Documentary500 $US
Meilleur Court-Métrage DocumentaireThe Resilience of the PoppyMona Hammoud
Best Director
Meilleur RéalisateurI Come From the SeaFeyrouz Serhal
Best Screenplay
Meilleur ScénarioPictureHoussein Haidar
Audience Magnet Award
Prix de l’Attraction du PublicBornstarsCaroline Labaki
Audience Magnet Award
Prix de l’Attraction du PublicTout va changerCéline Nassar
2025 · Sponsors
Who made it possible.
Eleven tiers of support carried the ninth edition, from the presenting sponsor to the artists and industry collaborators. Every one of them was drawn onto the festival’s own slides and shown at the ceremonies — and every one is still named on this page, a year on. That is the whole offer: we do not take the names down.
Eleven slides, as they ran in the cinema. Scroll
or swipe sideways.
Founded & OrganizedPresenting SponsorUnder the Patronage ofStrategic SponsorsPlatinum SponsorsGold SponsorsSilver SponsorsMedia PartnersOttawa Chapter’s SponsorsCommunity PartnersArtists & Industry Collaborators
Every name, a year on.
Seventy partners stood behind the ninth edition
— some wrote a cheque, and as many gave the
thing they sell. The slides above are how they
appeared in the cinema. They now have a page of
their own, with what each one actually gave.
The ninth Canadian edition was
presented by JADCO
Corporation.
No other sponsor of the 2025 edition
is named anywhere on the old site, so
no other sponsor is named here. If
somebody is missing, add them to this
block in the editor.
JADCO Corporation is the name printed
on the sponsor's own logo, and it
appears in no text anywhere. Worth
confirming the exact legal name before
this is used on anything contractual.
Twelve festivals on four continents. A film that
screens in Montréal can travel to Beirut, Paris,
Sydney, São Paulo or Vancouver through them, and
films reach Canada the same way. The Lebanese
Diaspora Film Festivals Network is Beirut Film
Society’s own, which is why My Lebanon My World
sits here alongside the independent festivals.
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My Lebanon My World
Beirut Shorts International Film Festival
Beirut International Women Film Festival
International Film Festival of Ottawa
MENA Film Festival — Vancouver
Taste of the Middle East
Lebanese Film Festival in France
Lebanese Film Festival in Australia
Lebanese Film Festival in Latin America
Beirut International Children and Family Film Festival
Batroun Mediterranean Film Festival
Cinema For Peace