Sirens

Incredible, provocative, and masterfully filmed.

Exceptional filmmaking and wonderfully human stories portrayed in settings so authentic that it feels like a stroke of destiny for cameras to be present in the moment. A heart-wrenching yearning for freedom of love and music, amidst political and social chaos and intolerance. There are moments where the camera captures silent expressions that say so much and reveal the inner struggles of the real-life characters living in a world that is not made for them. These five women somehow persist and seem impervious to the devastation around them, including the horrific explosion in Beirut in 2020. The director Rita Baghdadi never plays the female power card, their strength is simply present in every shot, regardless of what they are going through. But what stands out the most is the emotional tension between the two band leads, so authentic and palpable, unmatched by the best of fictionalized accounts of conflicted love and friendship. Easily the best documentary of 2022.

Beautiful. Saw this at Outfest in LA and then in NY last week - a profound look at what it is to be a musician, let alone one of a liberated mind trying to exist in a schitzophrenic country (Lebanon)... and world... a deep stare into the brutality of a music industry, the price of youthful emotional ambiguity, and societal hypocrisy. But the hope is in the persons and their bravery.

Loved this doc about the first all female metal band from the Middle East! Baghdadi did a great job of exploring life in Lebanon not only as a metal musician but also as a woman - it's all related. It's not easy to be an all female band anywhere, let alone in a region where metal is still a nascent genre. The doc also explored the effects of the economic crisis and the Beirut explosion on the women's lives and journey as a band. The filmography was really beautifully done and I enjoyed the score as well.