The documentary about dancer Souraya Baghdadi and her life with late filmmaker Maroun Baghdadi premiered in the international competition of the Cairo International Film Festival — taking a deeply Lebanese story to a regional stage.
A Love Story Told Through Archives
At the heart of Souraya Mon Amour is Souraya Baghdadi herself — dancer, actress and lifelong companion of Maroun Baghdadi. Through archival footage, personal reflections and voiceover, she revisits her life with Maroun, navigating the spaces between their shared past and her present solitude.
The film uses old images and recordings not as a museum piece, but as living material. Between “archival whispers” and tender introspection, Souraya uncovers the haunting beauty of love that persists even in the silence of absence.
Maroun Baghdadi’s Shadow Over Lebanese Cinema
For many cinephiles, Maroun Baghdadi is one of the Arab world’s most important filmmakers. His films, including Little Wars (1982) and Out of Life (1991), offered powerful, often painful portraits of Lebanon’s civil war and its emotional ruins, with Out of Life winning the Special Jury Prize at Cannes.
Souraya Mon Amour revisits that legacy not through critics or historians, but through the person who shared his everyday life. By intersecting Souraya’s intimate memories with the broader story of Maroun’s cinema, the film opens windows onto a creative partnership that shaped how Lebanon sees itself on screen.
A Collaborative, International Production
Beyond the story on screen, the film’s production tale is itself a case study in contemporary Arab cinema:
- Starring: Souraya Baghdadi.
- Written and directed: Nicolas Khoury, with writing contributions from Souraya Baghdadi and Maroun’s letters.
- Produced by: Jana Wehbe (The Attic Productions), with co-production by Aya Al Blouchi, Marine Vaillant and Souraya Baghdadi.
- Key crew: Cherine Debs (editor), Alain Donio (director of photography), Lama Sawaya (sound design, DB Studios), Belal Habri (colour grading, LUCID).
The project also benefited from support and development platforms such as IDFA Academy, Amman Industry Days (Amman Film Festival), Cinemed × Aflamuna at the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival, and Qumra at the Doha Film Institute, with backing from the Doha Film Institute, AFAC and Cultural Resource (Mawred).
Why This Premiere Matters For Lebanese Film
For Lebanese cinema, a world premiere in the international competition of Cairo — one of the Arab world’s most established festivals — is a statement: stories rooted in Lebanon’s history and memory can travel, touch and challenge audiences across the region.
Souraya Mon Amour is not a conventional bio-doc. It is a meditation on grief, partnership and the way cinema preserves (and distorts) the lives of those who make it. In a country where archives are often scattered or lost, the film insists on saving not just images, but the emotions attached to them.
Art As A Way Of Saying Goodbye — And Keeping Close
As Souraya walks through memories of love, work and war, the film becomes more than a tribute to Maroun Baghdadi. It is also a portrait of a woman negotiating how to live with absence without letting it erase what was shared.
For audiences in Cairo and beyond, Souraya Mon Amour offers something rare: a love story told not through fantasy, but through the fragile, real materials of life — letters, reels, recollections — and the stubborn decision to keep remembering.
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