Lebanon film festive to be boycotted by public following assault

A viral social media post by a festive goer about the alleged assault she experienced has caused the public to demand boycotting the film festive and place a formal complaint.

Social media users have dubbed the annual Lebanese Independent Film Festival (LIFF) in Beirut as a festival of "thuggery" due to claims of an attack occurring during one of its screenings.

With assistance from the Canadian embassy, the exhibition, which took place from Friday to Sunday, featured dozens of films from both local and European directors as well as Lebanese filmmakers.

On Saturday, a festival goer, Farah Darwish, talked about how poorly the event was run on social media. Then, according to her, event organizers took away her phone and physically abused her.

She claims that after the screening, when she was hanging out on the rooftop with her friends, a woman approached her and inquired as to whether she was the one who expressed disappointment about the organization. A woman and a man were waiting downstairs, and she motioned for Darwish to accompany them. The three then started arguing with Darwish.

Dineta Williams-Trigg, the co-director of LIFF, apologized for the "unfortunate incident" in a video apology that she later removed.

After thousands more individuals watched Darwish's reel, the festival received criticism on social media from a number of Lebanese people. People are urging both a boycott of the festival and a formal police report from Darwish.

But on Tuesday, a lawyer for the LIFF said in a statement that the incident was started by a "woman"—apparently referring to Darwish—who had been requested to leave for shouting. The statement added that Darwish had criticized one of the event organizers and that a law office had been requested to submit a formal defamation case against her.