Ghassan Salhab
Ghassan Salhab (غسان سلهب, born 4 May 1958) is a Lebanese film director, screenwriter and educator born in Dakar, Senegal, living and working in Beirut. He has directed eight feature-length films in addition to numerous shorter-form essay films and video works. His work has screened widely on the international stage, including dedicated focuses at La Rochelle International Film Festival, JCC Carthage, GIFF (Mexico), La Cinémathèque du Québec amongst others. He teaches at institutions throughout Lebanon and has published texts and articles in various magazines, as well as two books: fragments du Livre du naufrage and à contre-jour (depuis Beyrouth).
Full of ghosts and memories, Ghassan Salhab’s debut feature film is set in the late 1980s, towards the end of Lebanon’s Civil War. Protagonist Khalil returns to Beirut under a new identity, and to a confrontation with those he left behind following his apparent death a decade earlier. Featuring documentary elements and interviews with the lead actors, Phantom Beirut is a haunting exploration of the official silences and collective amnesias that stalk the lives of those who live through conflict.