Columbia University’s Middle East Institute is pleased to invite you to the New York Premiere of Beirut: Eye of the Storm (2021) in the presence of the filmmaker Mai Masri. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Mai Masri hosted by Professor Hamid Dabashi.

Four young women artists in Beirut document the October 2019 uprising against corruption and sectarian rule: Journalist Hanine, Iraqi camerawoman Lujain, and Noel and Michelle, two artist sisters whose avant-guard songs have made them a voice for their generation. The prevailing mood is one of hope and change. But a few months later, Covid-19 locks down the city, and all optimism evaporates with the massive explosion at Beirut's port. Will the young women be able to hold onto their dream of a new Lebanon? This personal account of a tumultuous period in Lebanese history explores the role of women, creativity and change.

Mai Masri is a Beirut-based Palestinian filmmaker who studied film at San Francisco State University, USA. Her films were screened worldwide and won over 90 international awards. She reached international acclaim with her debut feature film, 3000 Nights (2015) which was premiered at Toronto International Film Festival and won over 28 international awards. Masri is also known for her human and poetic documentaries: Children of Fire (1990), Hanan Ashrawi: A Woman for Her Time (1995), Children of Shatila (1998), Frontiers of Dreams and Fears (2001), Beirut Diaries (2006), 33 Days (2007) and Beirut: Eye of the Storm (2021). Together with her late husband, Jean Chamoun, Mai founded Nour productions and co-produced several films including, Under the Rubble (1983), Wild Flowers (1986), War Generation – Beirut (1988), Suspended Dreams (1992), In the Shadows of the City (2000), Hostage of Time (1994), Women Beyond Borders (2004), and Lanterns of Memory (2009). 

Beirut: Eye of the Storm
Dir. Mai Masri, 2021
74’, Lebanon
AR with EN subtitles

Featuring: Noel and Michelle Keserwany, Hanine Rabah, and Lujain Jo
Producers: Mai Masri, Sabine Sidawi, Charlotte Uzu
Camera: Jocelyne Abi Gebrayel, Bassem Fayad, Lujain Jo
Editor: Carine Doumit and Michele Tyan
Music: Fadi Tabbal
Nour Productions, Orjouane Productions, Les Films d’Ici