Oscars: Ireland Submits Documentary ‘In The Shadow Of Beirut’, EP’d By Hillary And Chelsea Clinton, For International Feature Race

Stephen Gerard Kelly and Garry Keane’s documentary In The Shadow of Beirut has been submitted as Ireland’s entry for the 2024 Oscar International Feature Film race.

The film, which is executive produced by Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Siobhan Sinnerton of HiddenLight Productions, was selected Thursday by the Irish Film & Television Academy, which last year selected The Quiet Girl for its submission. That film, directed by Colm Bairéad, became the first Irish film to be nominated in the category.

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For The Shadow of Beirut, first-time filmmaker Kelly spent five years living among the film’s four featured families in the Sabra and Shatila neighborhoods outside Beirut as it became engulfed in economic and political crisis following a 1982 massacre there. The film’s dialogue is primarily in Arabic.

Screen Ireland and ZDF/Arte financed the pic, which had its world premiere in June at the Doc Edge Festival in New Zealand and is qualified as well for the Oscar Feature Documentary category.

“This is such an important film for a global audience to connect with,” IFTA Academy CEO Áine Moriarty said. “This raw storytelling on screen is delivered with such heart-breaking honesty. Stephen has been trusted to bring us up close and personal in this film, into the lives of families who are full of love as they try to live and survive, with the question of hope and human resilience at its core.”

The film is produced by Brendan J. Byrne and Myriam Sassine and Belfast-based Cyprus Avenue Films (Gaza, Bobby Sands: 66 Days). Production partners include Beirut’s Abbout Productions (Costa Brava, Lebanon), Republic of Ireland-based Real Films (Gaza) and Berlin-based Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion (The Cleaners). Co-producers include Sassine, Christian Beetz and Alison Toomey.

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