Politics, Thriller 2045

Beirut. April 1975. 

The Paris of the Middle East. A melting pot of glamor and danger is about to explode. 

While common narratives of pre-civil war Beirut paint an image of a vibrant and cosmopolitan city, a hub for fashion, art, and politics, the truth is much more complicated. Beirut certainly was a center of creative and intellectual discourse, a place where Brigitte Bardot mingled with Omar Sharif, where the worlds of international fashion and international espionage collided. But the city was also politically troubled, where rising inequality, a refugee problem, and simmering political and sectarian tensions bubbled under the surface. While international journalists and Hollywood stars soaked up the sun beside swimming pools overlooking the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean, militia groups undertook guerrilla training in rural parts of the country. These two seemingly contradictory worlds were often more intertwined than they appeared on the surface… 

In April 1975, where our story begins, these worlds collide inside the Casino Beirut. An amalgam of the city’s contradictions, the casino is a glamorous playground overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, a hang-out for movie stars and corrupt businessmen, where revolutionaries, politicians and intellectuals mingle with fashion models and international spies. A place of music, gambling and hedonism, Casino Beirut is also the main stage for extravagant musical performances that indulge the city’s insatiable desire for beauty, pleasure, and power.