Cinemarkt

Sirens (Rita Baghdadi / US, LE 2022 / 79 min, arab and engl) / Thu 20.4.2023, 8 pm

On the outskirts of Beirut, Lilas and her thrashmetal bandmates, Shery, Maya, Alma, and Tatyana (Slave to Sirens), have big dreams but few opportunities. When the band’s appearance at a UK music festival isn’t the life - changer they had hoped for, Lilas comes home to Lebanon on the brink of collapse. At the same time, the complicated relationship between Lilas and her fellow guitarist Shery starts to fracture. The future of her band, her country, and her dreams now all at stake, Lilas faces a crossroad. She must decide what kind of leader she will be, not only for her band, but also as a young woman struggling to define herself in Lebanon, a country as complex as each of the Sirens themselves.

After the screening there will be a panel on gender roles in the Arab world today in cooperation with the Vienna based collective minbar.

بعد أن أسست لاعبتا الغيتار ليلاس و شيري أول فرقة نساء لموسيقى التراش ميتال في الشرق الأوسط في ضواحي بيروت ، تصارع كل منهما لغز الصداقات و الهوية الجنسية و الدمار في طريقهن إلى النجومية.

Participants on the panel after the Screening:

Lilas Mayassi, artist based in Beirut, member of the band Sirens (joins via zoom) 
Bana Saadeh, artist based in Vienna
Ayman Makarem, artist based in Vienna (moderator) 

Cinemarkt is an event of Brunnenpassage in cooperation with Volxkino.