Daniela Stephan’s short film The Sun Sets on Beirut, based on the aftermath of the 2020 Beirut Blast, will be screened at the 28th Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur in Switzerland from November 5 to 10, 2024. Notably, the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur Festival serves as a prerequisite qualifier for entries to the Oscars, BAFTAs, and EFAs.
The Sun Sets on Beirut follows Mounia as she searches for her lost cat amongst the ruins left in the wake of the 2020 Beirut port explosion. Joined by her best friend Ghady, who is more interested in flirting with a British journalist, they navigate the remnants of their city on a quest to recover what’s been lost.
Speaking on her short film, Stephan stated, “On August 4, 2020, a part of me died, both as a person and as a director. The explosion of the strongest ever non-nuclear bomb — in the heart of Beirut — devastated the city, leaving millions homeless, claiming the lives of 400 people, and injuring thousands. The socio-political climate had been charged with so much corruption and uncertainty that, somehow, the explosion of August 4 didn’t come as a complete surprise. It felt like a moment we had been anxiously dreading for many years.”
The film world premiered at the InterFilm Berlin Short Film Festival and opened for the 2023 Tripoli Film Festival. It has already screened at over a dozen prestigious film festivals and won four awards, including Best Student Film at the Olhares do Mediterraneo International Women’s Film Festival, Grand Prize and Jury Special Mention at Les Nuits Mediterraneennes du Court Métrage, and the Audience Vote Award at the Beirut International Women’s Film Festival.
MAD Distribution handles the film’s distribution in the MENA region, while MAD World looks after its international sales. The film is a joint production between Lebanon and the UK, involving production companies London Film School and Sky Lantern Productions, and captured by Fatma Racha Shehadeh’s camera.
