Having come of age in Canada as the daughter of immigrants, I was always aware of socially marginalized communities and how it feels to be part of the periphery. Living around the world as an adult fanned this feeling of otherness.
When I moved to Beirut in 2009, for the first time I felt at home, but I immediately became aware of marginalized communities there, who despite having resided in Lebanon for decades in many cases, are isolated from mainstream Lebanese society due to their racial and cultural differences. In Beirut, as in much of the world, this is a reality for migrant labour communities. Beirut has a thriving and long- established migrant labour community of Sri Lankans, Ethiopians, Filipinos and Bangladeshis, who lead rather invisible personal lives to most Lebanese.
I was drawn to the stories of these people and learned a great deal about their lives and relationships. I became inspired by their challenges to achieve happiness. What also fascinated me is how Lebanese many of them had become. For most of them, their second language is Lebanese Arabic, used to communicate with their employers and with each other since they come from diverse backgrounds.
Most Arab films made in the Arab world tend to tell Arab stories about Arabs. But Beirut Solo tells a socially and linguistically Arab story of non-Arabs. As the Middle East becomes increasingly multicultural, I feel it is so fitting and beautiful to tell the story of two non-Lebanese longtime Beirut residents falling in love with each other. It is a story that transcends all cultures and people, and resonates with Arab and non-Arab societies. In the increasingly globalized world we live in, I believe social, cultural and national communities are part of our individual or collective imaginations. As a film that explores the lives of two socially marginalized “others” in Lebanese society, Beirut Solo addresses that.
Beirut Solo explores Beirut society, through the perspective of a Sri Lankan housekeeper who falls in love with a Bangladeshi janitor. They communicate with each other in Arabic, the only language they have in common, and exist in a city where the ordinary is the absurd.
Audiences will be able to identify with the ideas of sacrifice and otherness in Beirut Solo, enabling them to rethink their beliefs in an increasingly mixed world. These are ideas that will resonate with audiences and stay with them long after the film ends.