Illustration by Jaimee Lee Haddad.
Though everyone loves to deny it, Beirut knows that it'll remain your first and true love. Relishing in its imperfections, it never pretends not to be pompous and dirty. It just asks you to love it with its flaws in mind, with its busy streets, always half-gentrified, half-dark, but completely loud, lively and familiar in their own way.
Bored of being enticed by regional cultural events that I can never attend, we've decided to dedicate this Valentine's Day map to our Beirut. It's less of a hassle than booking a last-minute visa appointment.
What to see
Opening on Valentine's Day is Nora Lebbos' "Free to Be" exhibit at Sitt Naila in Mar Mikhael. Lebbos brings together drawing, painting and collaging to tell stories of connections and self-discovery, where love is when you feel free enough to dig deeper in your mind, and not worry about what you'll find.
Click here for more information.
Annie Kurkdjian's work is nostalgic, and it almost feels like a distant memory is creeping up through your stomach every time you look at it. In "Behind the Curtains," opening this Thursday at LT gallery, she explores the intimate rituals we as women hide in the comfort of our homes, hoping it never comes out that we brush our hair or hunch our back as we iron our clothes.
Her home is shaped by inner turbulence and tension, as our secrets fight to come out. Take your crush to the opening and ask them if they ever found you ugly when watching you take your makeup off.
What to watch
In the few weeks it's been in Lebanese cinemas, Cyril Aris' 'A Sad and Beautiful World' has already garnered a tear-eyed loyal following.
Telling a love story born amidst a Lebanese war, the movie spoke to an audience tired of having to weigh their personal life and decisions against an ever-changing backdrop. Building a future with someone proves to be impossible in a country where you can't even build a future for yourself, and the frustration of instability is often hard to keep in.
Read our review here, or go in blind, ideally alone, to avoid awkward conversations with your partner after.
Still stuck in the past? So is Metropolis, which is holding Second Encounters, a film festival dedicated to film archives and archival practices.
Archives are more than dwelling on the past; they're a tool of both historical preservation and scenes of political and social imagination. The writers and filmmakers document their stories, as we draw inspiration on how to imagine a better world. Or in true Lebanese fashion, you can just lament that nothing ever changes.
For drama queens who turn love into self-inflicted torture and pain, put down your copy of Pride and Prejudice, and head to Theatre Monnot for "La Misérable," a play based on Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.
Instead of following Jean Valjean's bread-stealing endeavors, this iteration spotlights Fantine, a woman whose only crime was to love and ask to receive it back. Vulnerability is often a double-edged sword, leaving Fantine sprawled out like an open wound on stage.
What to listen to
AUB's Zaki Nassif Program for Music is presenting "Lost in Love," a night to be led by acclaimed Maestro Harout Fazlian and actor Rifaat Tarabay, who will be reciting poetry by Ounsi al-Hajj, Gebran Khalil Gebran and others.
Allow yourself to be transported by the performance, perfect for those looking to impress their pseudo-intellectual crush without actually having to hold a conversation, and others who harbor a secret that poetry readings actually move them more than they'd like to admit.
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