Beirut, 1983. The secret life of 12-year-old Lina (Marianne Feghali) revolves around 18-year-old Siham (Rawya El Chab), her domineering aunt’s maid. In a precarious wartime existence where passion and frustrations overshadow everything, Lina hides and encourages Siham’s clandestine love affairs while Siham shows Lina what her life could be like. But as Lina’s dysfunctional family implodes, class tension, jealousy, and insecurity threaten their vulnerable friendship.

Festivals & Awards:

Camera d'Or - Cannes Film Festival 2004

Filmmaker's bio:

Danielle Arbid is a French filmmaker and video artist of Lebanese origin. Her fiction films - In the Battlefields, A Lost Man, Parisienne, and Simple Passion - were selected and received awards at Cannes (Official Selection and Directors' Fortnight), as well as at San Sebastián, Toronto, Busan, and Locarno among other international festivals. Her documentaries and film essays have won Locarno’s Golden and Silver Leopard as well as the Prix Albert Londres. Arbid’s video works have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2022 and in museums such as the Centre Georges Pompidou. Her most recent feature film Only Rebels Win opened the Panorama section at the 2026 Berlinale.