17th Arab Film Festival

The Sursock Museum hosts the 17th Arab Film Festival, organized by Nadi LeKol Nas under the patronage of the Lebanese Ministry of Culture. Held across Beirut, Saida, and Tripoli at the Sursock Museum, Dar El Nimer, Ishbilia Theater, and Marsah, this year's edition welcomes FilmLab Palestine as special guests. The program features Lebanese student films, independent Arab cinema, competitions for short, medium-, and feature-length films, as well as seminars and masterclasses on Lebanese cinema. The festival concludes with a live performance by Mayssa Jallad and a tribute to Ziad Rahbani.

Entrance is free to all short films and panels. 
Feature film screenings and the musical performance by Mayssa Jallad require tickets. Book yours through Antoine Ticketing.

DAY 1 — Monday, 20 July 2026

Opening Night — Tributes & Screenings

6 PM: Opening Ceremony

Welcome & Introduction

Tribute to Ahmad Kaabour
Followed by a video celebrating his work.​​

Tribute to Daoud Abdel Sayed
Followed by a screening of his film The Advice of a Wise Man on the Affairs of the Village and Education (1975)
Directed by Daoud Abdel Sayed • 21 min • Egypt

7:00 PM: Honoring Salah Tizani (Abu Salim) in his presence.

Followed by a screening of Abu Salim Rasul El Gharam (1963)
Directed by Youssef Maalouf • 102 min • Lebanon • Arabic with English subtitles

9:15 PM: Opening Night Feature Film

Palestine 36
Directed by Annemarie Jacir • 120 min • Palestine • Arabic with English subtitles

DAY 2 — Tuesday, 21 July 2026

3:30 PM: Shorts 1: Memory, Identity & Belonging

Noora — Nour Belgaroui • 10 min • Tunisia

Past Perfect — Jude Nassar • 18 min • Lebanon

My Grandmother's Secret — Nourhan Abdelsalam • 11 min • Egypt

The Taste of Honey — Madeleine Hanna • 20 min • Lebanon

My Confidant, the Sea — Hicham Kayed • 32 min • Palestine

5:30 PM: Shorts 2: Women, Land & Life

From Olive to Drop — Aymen Rekik • 8 min • Tunisia

Positive Test — Nedal Mallouhi • 10 min • Algeria

Zahra — Hadi Shatat • 15 min • Jordan

Mother! — Najwa Khechemi • 15 min • Tunisia

Taazrit — Kaouther Arinas Dernouni • 35 min • Algeria

7:30 PM: Feature Film

Souraya Mon Amour
Directed by Nicholas Khoury • 85 min • Lebanon • Arabic with English subtitles

9:30 PM: Shorts 3: Absence, Grief & Return

One Last Time — Karim El Rahbani • 20 min • Lebanon

The Ant That Crossed My Sketchbook — Chris Akoury • 20 min • Lebanon

Those Who Never Left — Pierre Mouzannar • 20 min • Lebanon

Last Nights of Summer — Fatma Yasser • 30 min • Egypt

DAY 3 — Wednesday, 22 July 2026

3:30 PM: Shorts 4: Traces, Personal Journeys& Collective Memory

Vashvakarma — Omar Ibrahim Jalloul • 7 min • Lebanon

A-CROCHET — Karim Chreyteh • 5 min • Lebanon

The Smell of Henna — Louay Rezgui • 9 min • Tunisia

Light and Dust — Sami Farah • 16 min • Syria

The Night of Abed — Anis Djaad • 14 min • Algeria

Al Wadiaa — Hedy Krissane • 11 min • Tunisia

The Memory Seven — Omar El Agal • 18 min • Morocco

I Can't Think of Anything Right Now — Hussen Ibraheem • 11 min • Lebanon

5:30 PM — Panel: What Cinema, Here and Now?

A conversation with Yara Nashawaty (IESAV-USJ), Ali Jaber (ALBA), Elie Barakat (USEK), Joseph Housni (NDU) & Simon El-Habre (LU)

Moderated by Rima Kaddissi

7:30 PM: Shorts 5: Remnants of War, Remnants of the Self

Plane — Menna Ayman Alrefaee • 5 min • Egypt

The Last Henna — Mohnd Blal • 11 min • Sudan

Summer Visions — Letya Hage • 15 min • Lebanon

Hal — Ali Al Azeez • 6 min • Iraq

Emptiness — Hosam Abu Dan • 9 min • Palestine

The Young Man Who Lost His Shadow — Aghiad Souhel Dabi • 9 min • Syria

Pinky Promise — Karam Awadat • 18 min • Jordan

9:30 PM: Feature Film

Maybe One Day
Directed by Amine Kais • 61 min • Algeria • French/Arabic with Arabic/English subtitles

DAY 4 — Thursday, 23 July 2026

3:30 PM: Shorts 6: Systems, Bodies & Silent Pressures

No Parking No Waiting — Amr Gouda • 11 min • Egypt

Rahhala: Hayya ala Hayya — Lujain Jo • 18 min • Iraq

711 — Abd Al-Rahman Yassin Simismyeh • 17 min • Syria

Fajr — Rayan Mahmoud Tikriti • 30 min • Lebanon

The Experiment — Nadine Asmar • 8 min • Lebanon

5:30 PM — Panel

Film Criticism Today: Tasks and Challenges — A Tribute to Film Critic Walid Shmeit

With Issam Zakaria & Rabih Chami

7 PM: Shorts 7: Family, Care & Difficult Choices

Mess, Chaos & the Wedding — Aurélie Al Beyrouthy • 10 min • Lebanon

Oug — Abdulrahman Al Madani • 10 min • UAE

Not Buried Yet — Alkaseem Ahmad • 21 min • Syria

I'm Thinking About Killing My Mother — Selena Francis • 17 min • Lebanon

8:30 PM: Shorts 8: Lives in Transition

At Last — Shazdeh Hachem • 27 min • Lebanon

YA MAHA — Ahmad Alkhalil • 28 min • Palestine

Blue Hour — Marianne Fayad • 21 min • Lebanon

10 PM: Feature Film

Full Dysmorphia of the Cinematic Senses (Pretentious Film)

Directed by Ahmed Hussien Saad • 72 min • Egypt • Arabic with English subtitles

DAY 5 — Friday, 24 July 2026

3:30 PM: Shorts 9: Fractured Realities, Dreaming Worlds

Soap Kills — Momen Gharbi • 11 min • Tunisia

Project Aisha — Fahad Al-Nahdi • 9 min • Qatar

Catocalypse— Noah Samah • 7 min • Lebanon

Theater of Dreams — Fatma Al Ghanim • 16 min • Qatar

Karayr (‘Cave’) — Neo Apelian • 18 min • Jordan

Baadaran — Samah El Kadi • 15 min • Lebanon

In His Image and Likeness — Dory Nehman Nehme • 12 min • Lebanon

5:30 PM: Feature Film

La Zone
Directed by Lassaad Dkhili • 88 min • Tunisia • Arabic with English subtitles

7:30 PM: Shorts 10: Intimate Acts of Survival

Truce — Pya Edgar Eid • 12 min • Lebanon

A City with No Birds — Anis Nassereddine • 9 min • Lebanon

At Night — Dima Amer • 14 min • Lebanon

The Moneykeeper• Giovanni Bassil • 12 min • Lebanon

Bottles — Yassine El Idrissi • 18 min • Morocco

Far From It — Mario Ghabali • 19 min • Lebanon

9:30 PM: Feature Film

The Sea and Its Waves

Directed by Liana Kassir & Renaud Pachot • 85 min • Lebanon • Arabic with English subtitles

DAY 6 — Saturday, 25 July 2026

Closing Ceremony

7 PM: Festival Recap & Awards Ceremony

Tribute to Ziad Rahbani

Followed by a screening of Hayde Bass Tahiyyeh - Nadi Lekol Nass • 30 min

9 PM: Concert

Mayssa Jallad performs Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels, with visuals by Ely Dagher.