From November 6 to 10, 2026, the Lebanese Film Festival in Canada returns to Halifax for its 10th anniversary. With films, a red-carpet celebration, cultural encounters and stories that cross borders, the festival promises something greater than a celebration of Lebanese heritage: an invitation for Nova Scotians to discover a country through the eyes of its filmmakers.
There is something particularly fitting about celebrating Lebanese cinema at Halifax’s Pier 21.
For generations, the waterfront has been a place of arrivals and departures. Ships brought people who left their countries carrying little more than their belongings, their memories and the hope of building a better life.
Among them were Lebanese immigrants who would eventually establish businesses, raise families and become part of Nova Scotia’s social, cultural and economic landscape.
On November 7, the same historic waterfront will welcome another kind of arrival: Lebanese stories brought to Canada through cinema.
The occasion is the 10th anniversary of the Lebanese Film Festival in Canada (LFFC), whose Halifax edition runs from November 6 to 10, 2026.
Under the theme “10 Years, 2 Countries, 1 Silver Screen,” the festival celebrates a decade of filmmaking, cultural exchange and connections between Lebanon and Canada.
The Halifax program includes short films, documentaries, a feature presentation, discussions with guests and a red-carpet anniversary celebration at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.
From a Small Beginning to a Canadian Cultural Institution
The Lebanese Film Festival in Canada began in September 2017, with its first editions in Montreal and Ottawa.
The following year, the festival expanded to Halifax, Toronto and Vancouver, while also reaching Los Angeles.
What began as an initiative to introduce Lebanese cinema to North American audiences gradually morphed into a platform connecting filmmakers, cultural organizations, universities and communities.
The festival has also developed collaborations with major cultural institutions, including Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Cinemania and Canadian universities.
In Halifax, Dalhousie University and Saint Mary’s University have been among its academic collaborators.
The numbers illustrate how far the initiative has come.
According to the festival’s official 10th-anniversary figures, LFFC has received approximately 1,400 film submissions, presented 95 Canadian premieres, welcomed 210 industry guests and attracted 136,000 website users.
Lebanon has never lacked artistic talent. Its filmmakers, actors, writers and musicians have earned international recognition.
What Lebanon often lacks is the stable infrastructure, financing and distribution opportunities needed to support that talent consistently.
A festival such as LFFC cannot solve those problems, but it can provide something essential: visibility.
It gives filmmakers an opportunity to reach new audiences, meet industry professionals and participate in conversations beyond their country’s borders.
A Country That Deserves to Be Seen Beyond Its Crises
Lebanon frequently appears in international news for unfortunate reasons.
Political instability. Economic collapse. Conflict. Emigration. Institutional paralysis.
But a country is never defined exclusively by its difficulties.
Lebanon is also a place of humour, romance, creativity, family relationships, social contradictions, extraordinary landscapes and cultural diversity.
Its cinema reflects all these dimensions and that’s what makes the Lebanese Film Festival valuable.
It gives Lebanon the opportunity to speak for itself, through the imagination of its artists rather than the interpretations of foreign commentators.
For Lebanese Canadians, these films may revive memories of places, expressions and experiences that remain deeply familiar.
For audiences without Lebanese roots, they offer an introduction to a complex, diverse and interesting society.
A Festival That Belongs in Halifax
Halifax is an especially appropriate home for this celebration.
The Lebanese presence in Nova Scotia extends back to the nineteenth century.
Over generations, Lebanese Nova Scotians have contributed to commerce, construction, education, public service, philanthropy and cultural life.
Their history is sufficiently significant that Nova Scotia proclaimed its first Lebanese Heritage Month in November 2018.
In 2023, the Parliament of Canada went further, formally designating November as Lebanese Heritage Month throughout the country.
The timing of LFFC’s Halifax edition is therefore particularly meaningful.
It is not merely another cultural event placed on the November calendar.
The distance between the two countries suddenly becomes smaller.
And that, ultimately, is the purpose of cultural exchange.
November 6: Lebanese and Francophone Cinema Meet at Dalhousie
The festival opens on Friday, November 6, with an evening of short films presented in collaboration with Alliance Française Halifax and Dalhousie University.
The event takes place at the Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, Room 1020, 6100 University Avenue. Doors open at 6 p.m., with screenings beginning at 6:45 p.m.
Five films will be featured: To Fade Away, Child in the Frame, Bow, The Other Country and Take Care of My Johny, followed by a discussion with festival guests.
The collaboration celebrates the cultural and linguistic connections between Lebanon and Canada’s Francophone communities, particularly Nova Scotia’s Acadian heritage.
The films explore themes ranging from memory and family relationships to love and emigration. Take Care of My Johny, for example, captures the emotional complexity of leaving one’s homeland, an experience deeply familiar to many Lebanese families.
November 7: The Red Carpet Returns to Pier 21
Saturday, November 7, will bring the festival’s principal anniversary celebration.
The 10th Edition Red Carpet Ceremony takes place at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, at 1055 Marginal Road.
The evening begins with doors opening at 6 p.m., followed by a welcome cocktail reception at 6:30 p.m.
The official anniversary ceremony and a festival film presentation are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
At 9:30 p.m., the celebration continues with live entertainment and the LFFC after-party.
The dress code is evening attire.
A portion of the proceeds will support film students, adding an educational dimension to the celebration.
November 8: A Full Day of Lebanese Cinema
Sunday, November 8, offers the most extensive screening program currently detailed for Halifax.
The day begins at 11 a.m. at Pier 21 with a selection of short films, including The President’s Visit, directed by Cyril Aris; How I Became “the Astray”, directed by Joe Habka; Dimmed Colors, directed by Clara Freifer; and Roua, directed by Yasmin Kobeissi.
At 12:30 p.m., the program continues with Four of Swords, an experimental documentary directed by Salim Mrad.
Set against the difficult atmosphere of Beirut in 2021, the film follows two individuals searching for meaning and personal salvation in a city struggling through crisis.
The afternoon continues at 2 p.m. with another selection of short films: 25 – Twenty-Five, An Attempt, Jedo’s Dead and The Space Between Us.
The Third Rahbani: Remembering a Musical Legacy
At 4 p.m., the festival presents The Third Rahbani, a documentary directed by Feyrouz Serhal.
The film explores the life and work of Elias Rahbani, the composer who developed his own artistic identity alongside the extraordinary musical legacy associated with his brothers, Assi and Mansour Rahbani.
For Lebanese Canadians who grew up listening to Rahbani music, the documentary may be an opportunity to revisit a familiar cultural world.
For others, it offers an introduction to one of the most influential musical families in modern Lebanese history.
A Sad and Beautiful World: Love and the Difficult Choice of Staying
The day’s feature presentation, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., is A Sad and Beautiful World, directed by Cyril Aris.
The film follows Nino and Yasmina, whose relationship develops over several decades against the backdrop of Lebanon’s political and social upheavals.
Their story explores love, survival and a question familiar to generations of Lebanese families:
Should we stay in the country we love, or leave in search of a more secure future?
The film stars Mounia Akl, Hasan Akil and Julia Kassar.
It received international attention, including an audience award at the Venice Film Festival, and was selected as Lebanon’s submission for the 2025 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Cinema, Immigration and the Meaning of Belonging
The connection between Lebanese cinema and the Canadian immigrant experience deserves more attention.
We often discuss immigration through economic indicators.
Population growth.
Labour shortages.
Housing demand.
Business investment.
Tax contributions.
These are legitimate and important considerations.
But they describe only part of what immigration means.
People also arrive with memories, languages, artistic traditions, family histories and emotional connections to places they have left behind.
Those experiences do not disappear when someone receives Canadian citizenship.
Nor should they.
Successful integration does not require people to abandon their cultural identities.
It allows them to contribute those identities to the wider society while participating fully in Canadian life.
A Lebanese film festival is one example of how that process works.
The Partners and Volunteers Who Make It Possible
The 2026 festival benefits from the support of public institutions, cultural organizations and private-sector partners.
Its Halifax promotional materials acknowledge organizations including the Government of Canada, the Province of Nova Scotia, Dalhousie University, Alliance Française Halifax, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, W M Fares Group, the Lebanese Chamber of Commerce in Nova Scotia and other supporters.
The anniversary edition is being held under the patronage of Wadih Fares, Lebanon’s Consul in Halifax, according to the local festival program.
LFFC Halifax 2026: Dates, Venues and Tickets
Festival dates: November 6–10, 2026. The detailed program currently supplied confirms events for November 6–8.
Friday, November 6: Short-film screenings at Dalhousie University’s Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, Room 1020, beginning at 6 p.m.
Saturday, November 7: Tenth-anniversary red-carpet ceremony at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, beginning at 6 p.m.
Sunday, November 8: Short films, documentaries and the feature presentation A Sad and Beautiful World at Pier 21, beginning at 11 a.m.
Official festival website: Lebanese Film Festival in Canada
Tickets and reservations: LFFC Box Office
Contact: info@lffcanada.com
Program details are based on the organizers’ supplied 2026 Halifax schedule and published screening announcements. Additional events and any schedule changes should be confirmed through the official box office.
