Joseph Zaitouni and Cynthya Karam in the play "Jarret Ghaz Special." (Credit: Karim Shebli)
The 17th edition of the Beirut Spring Festival, organized by the Samir Kassir Foundation, offered two major highlights starting June 1, two major creations, "The Dream Manifesto" and "Jarret ghaz spéciale (A Special Gas Canister)," honoring those who paid the ultimate price for their ideas, while questioning the collective legacy of violence and the possibility of reconciliation.
'The Dream Manifesto': A living and sound tribute to Samir Kassir
From June 1 to 8, Samir Kassir Square in Beirut will host an open-air artistic installation by Roy Dib, as part of the 17th edition of the Beirut Spring Festival. Titled "The Dream Manifesto," this immersive work pays homage to the memory of the journalist and historian assassinated 20 years ago by giving voice again to his famous "Dream Manifesto," written in 2004.
This year, the event organized by the Samir Kassir Foundation holds particular resonance. It also celebrates the memory of two recently deceased cultural figures: novelist Elias Khoury and journalist Gisele Khoury, Samir Kassir's companion in struggle and life.
In a poignant sound setup, the voice of Elias Khoury reads the manifesto of the man he called "his little brother," while Gisele Khoury's voice echoes, tracing a three-way dialogue between memory, commitment, and hope. Together, they make resonate a reinvested downtown space, transformed for the occasion into a place of public reflection and poetic resistance.
"The Dream Manifesto" is not a static monument, but a living conversation between language, memory, and the future. In the midst of the city, at the foot of buildings erased by the turmoil of history, the installation invites you to dream again, despite the mourning, despite the defeats, despite the fatigue.
Designed with the technical direction of Atom (Nadim Deaibes), this sound work is offered to all passersby. According to Kassir, dreaming remains a political act - an act of gentle insubordination. A dream to be shared, loud and clear.
From June 1 to 8, 2025, at Samir Kassir Square, Beirut.
Artistic installation: Roy Dib.
Voices: Elias Khoury, Gisele Khoury, Samir Kassir.
'Jarret ghaz spéciale': Political theater
From June 10 to 29, 2025, the Monnot Theater in Beirut becomes the stage for a confrontation as intimate as it is political. "Jarret ghaz spéciale," a new creation by Karim Shebli and Sara Abdo, explores the open wounds of two peoples linked by history and suffering. The play questions the scars left by the Syrian regime in Lebanon and the weight of collective memory.
At the heart of the story, a Lebanese mother has been living for over 30 years with an open wound: the disappearance of her only son, arrested in the late 1980s and never returned from the Syrian regime's prisons. Her pain, long silent, explodes when she encounters a Syrian refugee fleeing the horrors of another war in 2024. The dialogue, initially brutal, exposes a repressed past, pent-up anger, and latent racism fueled by loss and impunity.
Driven by Cynthya Karam and Joseph Zaitouni, the play juxtaposes two trajectories that are seemingly opposed yet completely intertwined. It reveals the underside of the official history: that of mothers with no graves, exiles without anchors, and shared wounds between Lebanese and Syrian victims of the same repressive apparatus.
The stripped-down staging leaves ample space for words and emotion. The technical team – Hala Kastoun (costumes), Naja Reshmani (set), Hagop Derghougassian (lighting), and Sara Abdo (sound design) – reinforces this atmosphere suspended between muted pain and fragile catharsis.
A necessary piece that transforms the stage into a space of memory, confrontation, and perhaps reconciliation.
Monnot Theater, from June 10 to 29 at 8:30 p.m.
Free entry on June 10, 11, and 12.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
Rubio condemns Iran's 'outrageous' attacks on Kuwait
Geagea: International positions in support of Lebanon require a strong state