Ghassan Salhab's PHANTOM BEIRUT (1998) - U.S. premiere of brand-new 2K restoration!
We are excited to present Lebanese filmmaker Ghassan Salhab’s 1998 feature debut, an offbeat thriller that captures the everyday rhythms of Beirut in the late ‘80s.
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May 20, 2026, 8:00 PM
2220 Arts + Archives, 2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057, USA
PHANTOM BEIRUT (أشباح بيروت)
a film by Ghassan Salhab
1998, France/Lebanon, 117m, DCP
U.S. premiere of a brand-new 2K restoration
doors/bar: 7:30pm
film: 8:00pm
"An intelligent thriller of deception, loyalty and betrayal.” -The New York Times
“[Salhab] weaves the familiar Lebanese themes of exile, destruction, memory, hope and illusions into a poem to a beloved city and its people, as scarred as its buildings." -Variety
Among the most beautiful cinematic evocations of the Lebanese Civil War, director Ghassan Salhab’s remarkable feature debut captures the everyday rhythms of Beirut in the late ‘80s, where citizens live a potent mixture of nostalgia and fear amid a seemingly endless conflict. After faking his own death during battle, Khalil (Aouni Kawas) returns to Beirut under a new identity, forced to confront the old friends and comrades he left behind a decade earlier. Interspersed with onscreen interviews with cast members, Salhab’s offbeat thriller is a time capsule of a city and a people continuing to live with the ghosts of their past.
In Arabic with English subtitles. A Several Futures release. Special thanks to Graham Carter and Pauline Kraatz.