“Ila Ayn?” + Discussion

Layali el Cinema rings in the new year with the grandfather of Lebanese cinema – Georges Nasser. Join for a screening of his 1957 neo-realist classic Ila Ayn?.

Deep in the Lebanese mountains, a struggling family faces the legacy of exile: an absent father who fled to Brazil, a mother raising her children alone, and years later, a new generation torn between staying and leaving. Through this story, Georges Nasser explores emigration and social fracture—issues that remain relevant decades on.
With Ila Ayn?, the first film by a Lebanese director, Nasser gained international recognition at Cannes and became a symbol of Lebanese cinema’s emergence beyond Egyptian dominance. Although his career was cut short by civil war, his blend of documentary and fiction left a lasting influence on Lebanese filmmaking.