In the presence of HE Minister of Tourism Mr. Avedis Guidanian and Mr. Nizar Daher, representing the Minister of Culture Dr. Ghattas Khoury, Beirut & Beyond International Music Festival held a press gathering attended by the members of the festival’s board of trustees: Ms. Rima Frangieh (Founder and Director of Ehdeniyat and Cinemaiyat Festivals), Soudabeh Kia (World Music Advisor at Theatre de La Ville Paris), Brahim el Mazned (Artistic Director of Visa for Music and Timitar Festivals in Morocco), artistic advisor of BBIMF Lebanese artist Wael Kodeih and a number of local and international cultural figures.
The press gathering was followed by a fundraising concert, under the patronage of Lebanese Minister of Culture Dr. Ghattas Khoury. The concert featured “The Wedding Reception” a new collaborative audio-visual performance by photographer and filmmaker Mohamed Abdouni, multidisciplinary producer and musician Liliane Chlela and singer-songwriter and frontman of Mashrou’ Leila Hamed Sinno. Using film footage and original music, it explored the tensions running beneath the surface of a wedding held in Beirut in 1988.
