Lebanese Filmmaker’s “Robbing Beirut” wins top award at Red Sea International Film Festival

Lebanese-Canadian filmmaker Katia Jarjoura’s feature film Robbing Beirut has clinched the $75,000 in-development prize at the Red Sea Souk project market, held during Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival. The market showcased 31 feature films and seven series projects from around the world, celebrating diversity in storytelling.

Set amidst Lebanon’s ongoing economic crisis, Robbing Beirut tells the story of a woman who, after being denied access to her $30,000 savings by a bank, decides to rob it to pay for her sister’s life-saving medical treatment. The film is Jarjoura’s first fiction feature, following her acclaimed documentaries Goodbye Mubarak, The Road to Kerbala, and Escape, which focused on Syrian artists in exile.

The $20,000 second prize went to Indonesian director Makbul Mubarak for his feature Watch It Burn, which portrays a family struggling to save their clove farm as nickel mining threatens their village’s way of life. Mubarak, known for his debut Autobiography, which won the Fipresci jury prize at Venice in 2022, continues to explore poignant, culturally rich narratives.

The third prize of $20,000 was awarded to Afghan director Aboozar Amini for Tahmina, a unique story centered on a Persian goddess disguised as a woman in Kabul. Amini’s earlier works, including Kabul, City in the Wind, have earned critical acclaim, with the latter winning the special jury prize at CPH: Dox in 2019.

In the post-production category, Georgian filmmaker Levan Koguashvili won the $40,000 top prize for his film Guria. After his Brooklyn-set drama Brighton 4th, Koguashvili returns to Georgia with a story set in a small, struggling town in the 1990s. Chinese filmmaker Qiu JiongJiong received a $15,000 jury special mention for Fuxi, a darkly comedic exploration of Sichuan’s history through four surreal tales.

Lebanese director Estephan Khattar earned the $10,000 SeriesLab Jury Prize for Saria Othman Needs No Man, the story of a 46-year-old woman pursuing her acting dreams alongside much younger classmates. Indian crime drama Cold Case One by Nithin Lukose and Hari Kirishnan and the supernatural Kenyan series Generation-A by Mona Ombogo each secured $5,000 SeriesLab awards.

The Red Sea Lodge residency program also spotlighted promising projects, awarding $70,000 to Mahamed Al’Omda’s Blue Card and $50,000 to Lydia Matata’s Pepo Kali. Other winners included The Silent Ones by Jawahine Zentar ($40,000) and Rulan Hasan’s Close Rose Close.

Sponsors such as the Arab Cinema Center, Ithra, and Rotana Studios handed out additional prizes, totaling dozens of cash and in-kind awards.

The in-development jury featured industry stalwarts such as Lebanese producer Georges Schoucair (Abbout Productions) and France’s Louise Bellicaud (In Vivo Films), while the SeriesLab jury included Diego Ramírez Schrempp (Narcos), Jennifer Chen, and Lebanese screenwriter Nadia Tabbara.

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