Cyril Aris

Director

November 27, 1987 (38 years)

Beirut - Lebanon

Biography

Cyril Aris is a Lebanese director and screenwriter, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®. His first fiction feature, A Sad and Beautiful World (2025), premiered at the Venice Film Festival in Giornate Degli Autori, where it won the Audience Award. The film was selected as Lebanon’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Oscars®. The film also screened at BFI London, Palm Springs, San Francisco IFF, and Seminci (Valladolid), winning the Audien…

Filmography

8.2

A Sad and Beautiful World

In this sweeping love story that spans three decades of passion, heartbreak, and hope, Nino and Yasmina find themselves drawn together by a magnetic relationship. As they face an impossible choice between love and survival, they must decide if they want to build a family and chart a path to happiness in Lebanon, despite the tragedies ravaging the country.

6.0

Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano

On August 4th, 2020, the catastrophic explosion at the port of Beirut leaves a large part of the Lebanese capital in ruins. In the midst of the chaos, a troubled film crew face an overwhelming decision: to continue the production of their movie or abandon it? As they face the aftermath of the catastrophe, they are torn between their firm belief in the transformative power of cinema and a deep sense of cynicism about its ability to effect change in a nation plagued by economic turmoil and societal collapse. Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano chronicles their struggles and highlights the crew's resilience as they strive to find meaning and purpose in their work amidst the devastation.

4.0

The President's Visit

When a small coastal town of fishermen learns about the secret visit of the President of the Republic to its local soap shop, they embark in an everlasting struggle at cleaning up and maintaining the perfect image of their town.

N/A

Beating Hearts

The Karantina Hospital houses one of only two paediatric departments in Lebanon. It is a safe haven for ill babies unable to get treatment elsewhere. In 2014, this ward was established via the charitable work of ASSAMEH Birth & Beyond. Sadly, on the 4th August 2020 the hospital was badly damaged in the Beirut port explosion forcing it to shut down and relocate to a temporary location. This short film takes us into the hospital a couple of months before the explosion to meet the staff and volunteers who work tirelessly to help sick and vulnerable children. Through their struggle and dedication, we see the fragility of the Lebanese healthcare system in relation to its weak economy and precarious work force as well as the altruism of the Lebanese people, offering glimmers of life to ill, sometimes neglected and hopeless, babies.

8.3

The Swing

An assured, emotionally rich film about the lies a family tells to keep their patriarch happy; and the unattended costs of their falsehood. After sixty years of marriage, Antoine and Vivi have lost their most beloved daughter; but no one has dared to tell the bedridden nonagenarian Antoine, lest his heart crack.

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