ABOUT THE FILM: Four families are followed over several years in two incredibly tough Beirut neighborhoods where barriers exist to education, there is no drinkable water and a heavy paramilitary presence permeates everyday life. Yet there is beauty in the daily rituals – sweeping water over a tiled floor becomes poetic, birds in flight lift us up, a giggling baby gives a moment of relief from the daily battles families endure. “The injustice of oppression can be felt everywhere,” says one father, symbolic of the hundreds of thousands of people living in the most difficult of circumstances in contemporary Lebanon. Impossible choices are made under immense pressure: your young daughter promised as a bride, the inability to secure healthcare for your dying child, having to send your 8-year-old son to work rather than get an education. Yet this film highlights the incredible power of love. At the end we are left with hope for the next generation. - Sabina Barach

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER: Cinematographer and director Stephen Gerard Kelly is an Ireland-raised artist with a sensitivity around post-colonial power structures and a background in development and conflict research. In 2015 Stephen moved to Beirut out of love. He found himself in the tough, storied and sectarian Beirut neighborhoods of Sabra and Shatila where he developed strong relationships with families in the communities, many of whom are descendants from the original Palestinian refugees. After years of living there, these same families encouraged Stephen to pick up his camera to document their lives in times of celebration and often struggle. This powerful act of trust led to IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT, filmed over 4 years and Stephen's first film which is co-directed with Garry Keane.