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Lana understands Arabic and refuses to speak it. That refusal gives her return to Beirut a particular discomfort: she can follow the conversations around her while withholding the response that would place her inside them.
Welcome to another edition of FlixChatter double reviews. Today we’re looking at two female-led indie films made by female filmmakers I hadn’t heard of before.
Set predominantly in the titular Beirut, Shadows of Beirut follows Lana (Tala Calil), a young woman who decides to return to Beirut after learning that her estranged father is dying.
A London-dwelling émigrée goes back to Lebanon to see her dying father in this somewhat overwrought film examining a difficult childhood
A thoughtful family drama about buried trauma, inherited wounds and the secrets that shape us. Shadows of Beirut finds quiet power in its performances and the damage left between generations. Sean Dooley reviews.
Set predominantly in the titular Beirut, Shadows of Beirut follows Lana (Tala Calil), a young woman who decides to return to Beirut after learning that her estranged father is dying.
A woman’s journey to the city of her childhood to try to reconcile with her hospitalised father leads her to rediscover the place in Tina Gharavi’s new film Shadows Of Beirut, which opens in cinemas across the UK this Friday. It was written by Tala Calil, based partly on events in her own life, and Tina persuaded her to take the leading role of Lana, though she had little experience as an actor.
Projeté à partir du 25 septembre dans les cinémas du Royaume-Uni, Shadows of Beirut raconte le retour à Beyrouth d’une jeune femme partie depuis 25 ans.
Shadows of Beirut is a drama set in London and Lebanon, written by Tara Calil and Tina Gharavi. Calil stars as British Lebanese Lana, and Iranian-born British Gharavi directs. The story draws on Calil’s lived experience of obsessive-compulsive disorder, trauma and displacement.
With the pandemic now over five years behind us there are still films being released that were shot under the restrictions that were in place at the time. One of those films is Shadows of Beirut that’s been co-written and stars Tala Calil as Lana, a woman now living in London with her boyfriend (Michael E Rodgers) and also her mother estranged from her father having left Beirut 25 years ago.
Tina Gharavi’s Shadows of Beirut is a film at war with itself – a statement that’s taken literally but also thematically. In a nation recovering from the aftermath of the 2020 Beirut Port explosion, conflict surrounds Gharavi’s film:
It is impossible to tell a story about the Lebanese capital set in the past six years without making reference to the evening of 4 August 2020, when 2,750 tonnes of confiscated ammonium nitrate which had been left in a warehouse and ignored for six years suddenly caught fire, resulting in the third largest non-nuclear artificial explosion in history.
Universal’s Sense And Sensibility debuts in 725 UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend in one of the widest openings of the year.
Working Title and Focus Features’ Jane Austen adaptation is just behind The Devil Wears Prada 2 which opened in 729 locations but ahead of Disclosure Day’s 720 locations.
TINA GHARAVI’s latest feature focuses on a pair of idiosyncratic characters, both portrayed in vivid detail.
They have much in common: powerful resilience masked by apparent fragility; counterintuitive charm belying an unsettling first impression; and a dark history, some of it overt, some repressed.
Fast on the heels of Blue Film and Queen at Sea, films where sex is weaponised and variably viewed as problematic, and following the 2026 summer of stilted sex sashayed in via The Invite and I Want Your Sex, in which, once more, nookie or even the mere promise of it becomes a source of social discomfiture and public shame, Tina Gharavi‘s (with co-writing credits shared by star Tala Calil) …
EXCLUSIVE: BUFF Studios has acquired UK distribution rights to Tina Gharavi’s Shadows of Beirut and will present the film at this year’s Cannes market.
Tina Gharavi’s Shadows of Beirut will be released in UK cinemas from 25th September 2026. The first trailer and poster have been released.
Inspired by writer and lead Tala Calil’s own experiences, the film explores themes of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), trauma, reconciliation and the enduring pull of family and place.
Harrison & Con at the BUFF Studios ‘Shadows of Beirut’ Buyers screening ar the Cannes Film Festival!!!
EXCLUSIVE: BUFF Studios has acquired UK distribution rights to Tina Gharavi’s Shadows of Beirut and will present the film at this year’s Cannes market.
Watch the Official Trailer from movie ‘Shadows Of Beirut’ starring Tala Calil, Assaad Bouab, Flavia Bechara and Michael E. Rodgers. ‘Shadows Of Beirut’ movie is directed by Tina Gharavi. To know more about ‘Shadows Of Beirut’ Trailer, watch the video. Check out the latest movie trailers, new movie trailers, trending movie trailers and more at ETimes – Times of India Entertainment.
“Welcome home! Well, what’s left of it…” “I’m not here for him. This is for me.” BUFF Studios has revealed an official UK trailer for the indie film titled Shadows of Beirut, made by artist / filmmaker Tina Gharavi as her latest creation. This is debuting first in the UK in cinemas starting in September, though there’s no official US release set yet.
BUFF Studios has unveiled the official UK trailer for Shadows of Beirut, an intimate indie drama that takes audiences into the heart of Lebanon through a deeply personal story of family, grief and reconciliation. Starring Tala Calil, Assaad Bouab and Flavia Bechara, the film follows a young woman returning to Beirut after 25 years away, only to find herself confronting a past she has spent most of her life trying to leave behind.
Inspired by writer and lead Tala Calil’s own experiences, Shadows of Beirut explores themes of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), trauma, reconciliation and the enduring pull of family and place. The collaboration between Calil and director Tina Gharavi (Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day) shaped a deeply personal story that examines the complexity of human relationships and the possibility of healing.
EXCLUSIVE: BUFF Studios has acquired UK distribution rights to Tina Gharavi’s Shadows of Beirut and will present the film at this year’s Cannes market.
Tina Gharavi’s intimate drama about reconciliation, identity, and the pull of home, Shadows Of Beirut, is coming to UK cinemas. Watch the trailer here.
Tina Gharavi’s Shadows of Beirut hits UK cinemas on 25th September 2026. The first trailer and poster are now available.
The official UK trailer for Tina Gharavi‘s Shadows of Beirut begins with a return that has been delayed for 25 years. The film follows a woman who travels back to Beirut to confront her estranged, dying father, with BUFF Studios releasing it in UK theaters on September 25, 2026.
Tina Gharavi’s intimate new drama, Shadows of Beirut, starring Tala Calil, Assaad Bouab and Flavia Bechara, is set to arrive in UK cinemas on 25 September 2026.