Maroun Returns to Beirut

The year 2023 marks the thirtieth anniversary of Maroun Baghdadi’s sudden and tragic death. Baghdadi was a Lebanese filmmaker who wrote and directed films amid the Lebanese civil war, contributing to both documentary and narrative cinema from 1973 until his death in 1993. In this film, Feyrouz Serhal embarks on a day trip through Beirut, a city that profoundly shaped Baghdadi’s journey in life and cinema. Along her path she encounters individuals who were close to him and who shared in his experiences. As she traverses Baghdadi’s life and career, the social and political backdrop comes to the foreground. The film reflects on the last fifty years of the country’s history from a contemporary vantage point. Through Baghdadi’s story, we perceive how cinema can, beautifully and dramatically, portray our stories and discourse our life events.