ANXIOUS IN BEIRUT

Lebanon 2023 - DCP - 93 minutes, in Lebanese with English subtitles

Director: Zakaria Jaber

Producer: Jumana Saadeh

Print Courtesy: Filmotor

A very personal film that effortlessly yet brilliantly reaches the universal, Anxious in Beirut is a quiet astonishment. Young, self-taught Lebanese filmmaker Zakaria Jaber surveys the turmoil in his native city, a maelstrom of explosions, possible revolution, post-war trauma, and recurrent emergencies, and contemplates escape and emigration to a less troubled spot. And yet…Beirut and Lebanon are beautiful, powerful, and home. Jaber is aware that he is hardly the first to feel anxious in his homeland; witness the waves of past Lebanese immigration over time (including Waterville’s large Lebanese community, many of whose forebears fled Turkish invasions over 100 years ago.) But Jaber brings a vitality, an honesty, and an open eye to his personal narrative that engages us immediately and never lets go. —KE

Sponsored by Mid-Maine Global Forum

Tuesday, July 11 1PM | WOH

Thursday, July 13 6:40PM | MFC 2