HiddenLight Productions Boards Screen Ireland-supported Documentary In The Shadow Of Beirut
Posted: 30th August 2022
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is delighted to welcome the news that HiddenLight Productions have boarded Stephen Gerard Kelly and Garry Keane's new feature documentary In The Shadow of Beirut. Variety announced the news this morning August 30th.
The documentary was filmed over four years with unique access to four families living in the impoverished neighbourhoods Sabra and Shatila, infamous for their role in a massacre during the Lebanese Civil War. Kelly built up his relationship with the four families over the course of six years, following them through many struggles, including the 2020 pandemic and the deteroriating economic crisis that engulfed the country.
Financiers for the documentary are Screen Ireland and ZDF/Arte. Lead producer is Belfast-based Cyprus Avenue Films (Gaza, Bobby Sands: 66 Days). Production partners include Beirut’s Abbout Productions (Costa Brava, Lebanon), Donegal's Real Films (Gaza) and Berlin-based Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion (The Cleaners). Co-producers include Myriam Sassine, Christian Beetz and Alison Toomey. Executive producers for Hidden Light are Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Siobhan Sinnerton.
Commenting on securing the project for production, Cyprus Avenue Films’ founder Brendan J Byrne said:
“Irish director Stephen Gerard Kelly watched our film ‘Gaza’ in a cinema in Beirut at the end of 2019. At the time he had been following his characters for two years. As soon as I saw the material, I knew I had to get involved and decided to partner Stephen and his remarkable material with a strong team, including co-director Garry Keane (‘Gaza’). Together, they shot additional material and helped steer the film in the editing room alongside experienced editor, Iseult Howlett. I couldn’t be happier with the end result.”
Co-director Stephen Gerard Kelly added:
“Spending six years with people in Sabra and Shatila has been enriching and humbling. Over 30,000 people live in an urban slum of one square kilometre and — despite its reputation for paramilitary groups, criminal activity and drugs — most people are hardworking, honest and genuine. Among these narrow, dark alleys, people are constantly forced to make incredibly tough decisions created by decades of political corruption and manipulative sectarianism. But, against all these odds, there is still hope, and this film aims to elevate that hope.”
In the Shadow of Beirut is nearing completion and is expected to premiere before the end of 2022.
About HiddenLight Productions
Formed in 2020, HiddenLight has focused on creating premium documentary, and unscripted and scripted entertainment for TV, film and digital. The outfit was founded by the Clintons along with Sam Branson. Its first project was the YouTube Originals series If I Could Tell You Just One Thing, which aired in the summer of 2021. Apple TV+ series Gutsy Women, based on the Clintons’ best-selling book The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience, will soon launch. The company recently announced In Her Hands, directed by Tamana Ayazi and Oscar nominee Marcel Mettelsiefen, which receives its world premiere at TIFF later this month and will be released globally by Netflix on November 16th.