Ruptly
"The 'South Screens' Film Festival, hosted by Metropolis Cinema in Beirut, has launched its second edition with a dedicated focus on independent cinema from the Global South. Showcasing powerful works from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South America, the event aims to foster deep cultural exchange and offer a platform for stories that explore shared regional struggles. Footage filmed on Friday shows the cinema building adorned with promotional posters, as moviegoers gathered at the box office before heading inside to watch the acclaimed African feature 'On Becoming a Guinea Fowl'. Hania Mroue, Director of Metropolis Cinema, explained that the festival seeks to connect independent filmmakers across the Global South to boost collaboration and exchange. "Our ambition is for this networking to go beyond this festival and become a springboard for broader solidarity among filmmakers from across these regions," she said. Mroue emphasised that the significance of the selection extends beyond artistic merit to the gruelling conditions under which the films were made. “What matters to us, is not only their artistic merit, but also their humanity, the issues they address and the way they were made,” she said. "All these films are produced with limited resources but immense creativity. The filmmakers managed to defy significant challenges and constrained budgets to produce works of this calibre and bring them to international audiences." Festival attendee Bassam Nassar echoed the importance of giving African cinema a platform in Lebanon. "There are common concerns that connect people across the world," he noted, praising the cross-cultural dialogue. The second edition of the festival, which opened on Thursday and runs until June 6, showcases films and co-productions from 15 countries to celebrate the sheer diversity of filmmaking outside traditional Western circuits."
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