Latest news with #Beirut-based
Broadcast Pro
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Broadcast Pro
Lebanon's Abbout Productions to receive Locarno's producing award
The production firm will also present two of its movies at Locarno, namely Costa Brava, Lebanon' and 'Memory Box'. Beirut-based production house Abbout Productions, led by Georges Schoucair and Myriam Sassine, will be honoured with the Raimondo Rezzonico Award at the 78th Locarno Film Festival on August 7, 2025. The award, presented by the Municipality of Minusio, recognises outstanding work by independent producers and celebrates Abbout's remarkable contribution to Arab and Lebanese cinema. During the ceremony, Abbout Productions will present two of its most acclaimed titles: Costa Brava, Lebanon by Mounia Akl and Memory Box by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige. These films exemplify the company's dedication to powerful storytelling and international visibility for regional voices. Since taking the helm of Abbout Productions in 2004 and 2010, respectively, Schoucair and Sassine have played an instrumental role in shaping Lebanon's independent film landscape. Under their leadership, the Beirut-based company has produced a roster of award-winning films that have screened at major international festivals including Venice, Berlin and Cannes. Their portfolio includes works by prominent regional directors such as Ahmad Ghossein, Mohamed Malas, Ghassan Salhab, Oualid Mouannes, Cyril Aris, Ely Dagher, Rana Eid and Myriam El Hajj, whose Diaries from Lebanon premiered in the Berlinale Panorama section in 2024. Beyond production, both Schoucair and Sassine have championed independent cinema through institutional and grassroots efforts. Schoucair was instrumental in the founding and relaunch of Beirut's Metropolis Cinema, a cornerstone venue for arthouse programming in the Middle East. Sassine co-founded the Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the only genre-focused film festival in the Arab world, and has been actively involved in regional co-production and training platforms like Aflamuna Connection, which she has managed since 2021. Their work has extended beyond national boundaries. Schoucair supported Jean-Luc Godard's Le Livre d'image and, through the international company Schortcut Films, he and Sassine have co-produced award-winning films by renowned auteurs such as Alain Gomis, Kaouther Ben Hania, Lucrecia Martel and Elia Suleiman. On August 8, Schoucair and Sassine will participate in a public discussion at Forum @Spazio Cinema, moderated by Swiss journalist Philippe Mottaz. The event, organised in collaboration with the ICT4Peace Foundation, reflects the Festival's broader commitment to global dialogue and socially engaged filmmaking. Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director, said: 'The films Abbout have produced are a sign of a society that is vital, alive, and continues to look to the future with dogged confidence. Through their films, Georges and Myriam have been able to tell the story of a country able to come to terms with its history while simultaneously imagining a layered and multifaceted Lebanese identity. They have also launched a great many new talents in front of and behind the camera, helping to give Lebanon a new face, allowing it to meet its potential, and offering a complex portrait of the country that goes far beyond the trivialisations of the violence of war. They have worked tirelessly in the pursuit of a fertile and generous dialogue.' The Raimondo Rezzonico Award, offered by the Municipality of Minusio, was created in 2002 in memory of the man who was President of the Festival from 1981 to 1999. The 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival will take place from August 6-16, 2025.
DW
13-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
Lebanon: Is Hezbollah too weak to come to Iran's aid? – DW – 06/13/2025
The Tehran-backed group remains remarkably restrained following the Israeli strikes on Iran. Is Hezbollah too weak to attack or is the group busy rearming? Following Israel's attack on Iran, tensions across the Middle East are at an all-year-high. Yet, Hezbollah, once Iran's best equipped and biggest militia group in the region, issued a statement only hours after the attack. The group condemned Israel's attack and sent condolences to Tehran for those who got killed. But Hezbollah did not offer to join in the retaliation — even though, being based in Lebanon, they have a direct border with Israel. "The previous rule was that when Iran is attacked on its territory, it retaliates from its territory," Heiko Wimmen, Project Director of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon at the International Crisis Group, told DW. However, he wouldn't rule out that these "rulebooks have changed." "Hezbollah could be waiting for a clear call to action from Iran," Wimmen said. Ronnie Chatah, a Beirut-based political analyst and host of The Beirut Banyan podcast, told DW that "Iran cannot easily retaliate from Lebanon today as a result of Hezbollah's major losses during last year's war with Israel." Iran's "'crown jewel' may no longer serve as it was built and honed to function: a front line of external defense for Tehran," he added. Yet, he still sees that in "terms of general trends in the region and how Hezbollah reacts, it is safe to conclude that even in its withered state, Hezbollah remains a reflection of Iran's security concerns." Israel's strikes on Iran's main enrichment facility and the country's ballistic missile program took place two days ahead of the sixth round of US-Iran negotiations over a new nuclear deal in Oman. It now remains to be seen whether that meeting will still take place. However, hopes for a new agreement were somewhat dashed even before Israel's attack on Iran. Earlier this week, a senior Iranian official already told the news agency Reuters that Tehran would not abandon its right to enrich uranium. Also US President Donald Trump has lowered expectations for a new deal which could have eased tensions in the region. Following Israel's strikes on Iran, it remains to be seen if Iran and the US will continue their nuclear talks in Oman on Sunday Image: Vahid Salemi/AP/dpa/picture alliance Is Hezbollah too weak or too busy? "Another reason for Hezbollah's radio silence is that they could have decided to prioritize internal restructuring," Heiko Wimmen said. This would include appointing a new leadership and focusing on local arms production in order to become more independent from Iranian supplies. "Also, nobody really knows for sure what happened to those strategic missiles that Hezbollah supposedly had but never really used against Israel in last year's war," Wimmen added. In November 2024, a ceasefire ended 11 months of skirmishes and two months of a full-scale war that was triggered by Hezbollah, whose military wing is classified as terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Arab states. Over time, Israel killed most of Hezbollah's leadership and destroyed large parts of the group's infrastructure, as well as Lebanon's south and large parts of Beirut. Also, some 4,000 people were killed. Despite the ceasefire, Israel has been frequently attacking sites it says are connected with Hezbollah. Last week, Israel's military carried out intense strikes on a suburb of Beirut where Hezbollah holds sway. The Israeli military said that it targeted Hezbollah's underground drone factories. Hezbollah officials denied the existence of such facilities. Still, the most recent report by the Institute for the Study of War, states that "Hezbollah likely seeks to prioritize domestic drone production after recent setbacks that have complicated its ability to procure and smuggle Iranian weapons into Lebanon." While this is in line with Hezbollah's previous role as well-equipped and much larger armed group than for example Lebanon's national army, it goes against international calls for Hezbollah's disarmament and growing pressure on Hezbollah even from within Lebanon. However, Hezbollah officials have repeatedly said that they would not give up arms until Israel stopped its airstrikes and withdrew from five points it is still occupying along the border in southern Lebanon. Israel though said it would not stop targeting Hezbollah as long as they posed a threat. Some 7 months after the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, the Israeli military targeted a suburb of Beirut in what they said was to dismantle a drone manufacturing place Image: AFP/Getty Images Growing pressure on Hezbollah Meanwhile, Lebanon's government has also stepped up efforts to contain Hezbollah. Earlier this month, Lebanon's Minister Nawaf Salam said in a televised address marking 100 days in office that the Lebanese army had dismantled "more than 500 military positions and arms depots" belonging to Hezbollah in the south of the country. "The state continues its action... to restore its authority over the entire national territory... and to have a monopoly on arms," Salam said. "The conversation is very different from the last civil war of the 2000s, where Hezbollah emerged as the key party that delivered reconstruction and economic support for the people, thus garnering political support," Kelly Petillo, Middle East researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told DW upon her return from Beirut earlier this week. "Now, the conversation is about disarmament at the national level," she said, adding that "at a local level the conversation is about who's going to lift us from hardship and the aftermath of a terrible war." Meanwhile, posters of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's former leader who was killed in September 2024 during an Israeli strike on Hezbollah's headquarters in Beirut, are still lining major streets in the city. "Flags and posters with Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders still hang, but they hang on destroyed buildings along worn down streets," Petillo says. "It can't be denied that Hezbollah has become weak," she told DW, adding that "the flags are still there and even though they are covered in dust and rubble it also means that Hezbollah will not disappear anytime soon." Edited by: Andreas Illmer Why Iran and Israel are enemies To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Boston Globe
07-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
Now, after last year's bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon's new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products. Advertisement 'Tourism is a big catalyst, and so it's very important that the bans get lifted,' said Laura Khazen Lahoud, the country's tourism minister. On the highway leading to the Beirut airport, once-ubiquitous banners touting Hezbollah's leadership have been replaced with commercial billboards and posters that read 'a new era for Lebanon.' In the center of Beirut, and especially in neighborhoods that hope to attract tourists, political posters are coming down, and police and army patrols are on the rise. Advertisement There are signs of thawing relations with some Gulf neighbors. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have lifted yearslong travel bans. All eyes are now on Saudi Arabia, a regional political and economic powerhouse, to see if it will follow suit, according to Lahoud and other Lebanese officials. A key sticking point is security, these officials say. Although a ceasefire with Israel has been in place since November, near-daily airstrikes have continued in southern and eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah over the years had built its political base and powerful military arsenal. As vital as tourism is — it accounted for almost 20% of Lebanon's economy before it tanked in 2019 — the country's leaders say it is just one piece of a larger puzzle they are trying to put back together. Lebanon's agricultural and industrial sectors are in shambles, suffering a major blow in 2021, when Saudi Arabia banned their exports after accusing Hezbollah of smuggling drugs into Riyadh. Years of economic dysfunction have left the country's once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation. The World Bank says poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million. To make matters worse, inflation is soaring, with the Lebanese pound losing 90% of its value, and many families lost their savings when banks collapsed. Tourism is seen by Lebanon's leaders as the best way to kickstart the reconciliation needed with Gulf countries -- and only then can they move on to exports and other economic growth opportunities. Advertisement 'It's the thing that makes most sense, because that's all Lebanon can sell now,' said Sami Zoughaib, research manager at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank. With summer still weeks away, flights to Lebanon are already packed with expats and locals from countries that overturned their travel bans, and hotels say bookings have been brisk. At the event hosted last month by the tourism ministry, the owner of the St. Georges Hotel, Fady El-Khoury, beamed. The hotel, owned by his father in its heyday, has acutely felt Lebanon's ups and downs over the decades, closing and reopening multiple times because of wars. 'I have a feeling that the country is coming back after 50 years,' he said. On a recent weekend, as people crammed the beaches of the northern city of Batroun, and jet skis whizzed along the Mediterranean, local business people sounded optimistic that the country was on the right path. 'We are happy, and everyone here is happy,' said Jad Nasr, co-owner of a private beach club. 'After years of being boycotted by the Arabs and our brothers in the Gulf, we expect this year for us to always be full.' Still, tourism is not a panacea for Lebanon's economy, which for decades has suffered from rampant corruption and waste. Lebanon has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for years over a recovery plan that would include billions in loans and require the country to combat corruption, restructure its banks, and bring improvements to a range of public services, including electricity and water. Without those and other reforms, Lebanon's wealthy neighbors will lack confidence to invest there, experts said. A tourism boom alone would serve as a 'morphine shot that would only temporarily ease the pain' rather than stop the deepening poverty in Lebanon, Zoughaib said. Advertisement The tourism minister, Lahoud, agreed, saying a long-term process has only just begun. 'But we're talking about subjects we never talked about before,' she said. 'And I think the whole country has realized that war doesn't serve anyone, and that we really need our economy to be back and flourish again.'
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Yahoo
Bargain Hunt expert jailed after selling art to suspected Hezbollah financier
A BBC Bargain Hunt expert has been jailed for two and a half years for selling works of art to a Lebanese man suspected of financing the terrorist group Hezbollah. Oghenochuko Ojiri, who also appeared on Antiques Road Trip, pleaded guilty to eight offences under section 21A of the Terrorism Act 2000. The 53-year-old, who ran an art gallery in east London, admitted failing to disclose information about sales he made to Beirut-based Nazem Ahmad. Ahmad was sanctioned by the US and UK authorities on suspicion that he was money laundering and financing the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah. New money laundering regulations were introduced in January 2020, bringing the art market under HMRC supervision and putting a responsibility on dealers to ensure they were following the rules. The Old Bailey heard Ojiri had discussed the changes with a colleague in the US over email, indicating he was aware of his responsibilities. Evidence recovered from his phone also showed he had downloaded a New York Times article about Ahmad, indicating he knew of the suspicions surrounding his activities. But on eight occasions between October 2020 and December 2021, he sold works of art to Ahmad worth £140,000. He disguised his name in his telephone and claimed the works were being sold to a different person. Ojiri was arrested in April 2023 in north Wales while filming a show for the BBC. He admitted the offences when he appeared at Westminster magistrates' court last month. Gavin Irwin, representing Ojiri, said the art expert and married father's 'humiliation is complete' having lost 'his good name' and the 'work he loves'. Appearing at the Old Bailey for sentencing, Ojiri was given a three and a half year sentence comprising two and a half years in jail and another year on licence. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: 'Mr Ojiri, your hard work, talent and charisma has brought you a great deal of success. 'But working in a regulated sector carries significant responsibility. You knew you should not be dealing with this man. I do not accept that you were naive. 'Rather, it benefitted you to close your eyes to what you believed he was. You knew it was your duty to alert the authorities. Instead you elected to balance the financial profit and commercial success of your business against Nazem Ahmad's dark side.' Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said: 'This case is a great example of the work done by detectives in the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit (NTFIU), based in the Met's Counter Terrorism Command. 'The prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation is the first of its kind, and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, prosecute those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups. 'Oghenochuko Ojiri wilfully obscured the fact he knew he was selling artwork to Nazem Ahmad, someone who has been sanctioned by the UK and US Treasury and described as a funder of the proscribed terrorist group Hezbollah. 'Financial investigation is a crucial part of the counter terrorism effort. A team of specialist investigators, analysts and researchers in the NTFIU work all year round to prevent money from reaching the hands of terrorists or being used to fund terrorist attacks.' This is a breaking news story. More follows Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
CairoScene
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
Etyen Releases Second Album ‘My Goddess' on Thawra Records
Etyen drops a deeply personal LP reflecting love and loss, composed in the midst of Lebanon's political and economic turmoil. Jun 02, 2025 Lebanese producer Etyen has just released his second album, 'My Goddess', through his Beirut-based independent label Thawra Records. Released both digitally and on vinyl, the nine-track project is a deeply emotional, sonically expansive portrait of heartbreak, reflection, and survival. Written during Lebanon's ongoing political and economic turmoil, the album captures the dual weight of personal grief and collective trauma. 'It's about learning to let go, even when everything feels like it's slipping through your hands,' Etyen tells SceneNoise. The record is charged with layered textures, shifting from fragility to resilience, reflecting the artist's own emotional turbulence. Amongst the inspirations behind the album is the loss of his cat Lucy, a symbolic presence that threads through the record's narrative of mourning and rebirth. Etyen has spent over a decade crafting a distinct voice in electronic music. His work spans Netflix original soundtracks ('Jinn'), international festivals like Sonar Barcelona and MUTEK, and editorial nods from Bandcamp Daily, BBC Radio 6, and FBi Radio. Through Thawra Records, he continues to champion experimental artists from the Arab region, building a community rooted in sonic and political independence.
