Post-Independence
After Lebanon gained its independence from France, filmmakers began to examine local themes, especially rural life and folklore. During the post-independence period, Lebanon witnessed an economic boom that made its capital, Beirut, the financial center of the eastern Mediterranean. Lebanon's economic success, along with the presence of 38 banks and its open, multi-cultural and liberal society, made the country an alternative production choice to Egypt, which was at the time the center of filmmaking in the Arabic-speaking world. Additionally, "Lebanon had the region's best technical facilities" for film production. For the first half of the twentieth century, Lebanese cinema was very closely associated with Egyptian cinema. In addition to exporting numerous Lebanese actors and actresses, such as Nour Al Hoda and Sabah (singer), belly dancers like Badia Massabni and producers like Assia Dagher, Lebanese distributors monopolized export of Egyptian film from 1930s – 1970s. One of the most successful directors of this period was Mohamed Selmane who was trained in Egypt and returned to Lebanon to make 30 films in 25 years.
Co-productions with Egypt and Syria were common in this period, which was considered the "Golden Age" of the Lebanese film industry. Additionally, Lebanese producers from 1945 up to 1951 played an influential role in the first stages of production of Iraqi cinema.
The first Lebanese film to represent Lebanon at the Cannes Film Festival was Georges Nasser's Ila Ayn? in 1958.
The film industry continued to prosper in the 1960s with Beirut rivaling Cairo’s dominance of Arab filmmaking; however, films produced in the sixties, for the most part, lacked a sense of national identity and were merely commercial films, targeting a pan-Arab audience. The musicals of the Rahbani Brothers that starred Fairuz were an exception. The Rahbani films were centered around nostalgic themes of life in Mount Lebanon villages. While many films in the sixties were filmed in the Egyptian vernacular to cater to the large Egyptian market, the Rahbani films were filmed in the Lebanese dialect. One of the Rahbani films,Safar Barlik, which was set in 1912, depicted Lebanon's struggle against the Ottoman occupation. The film became a staple rerun on Lebanese television, especially on Independence Day.
Lebanon was also a filming location for international productions. For example, in 1965, Val Guest's Where the Spies Are, starring David Niven and Françoise Dorléac, was filmed in Beirut. Twenty-Four Hours to Kill, starring Mickey Rooney, and Secret Agent Fire Ball, starring Richard Harrison, were also filmed in Beirut the same year. The following year in 1966, the German director, Manfred R. Köhler, filmed his film, Agent 505 - Todesfalle Beirut. George Lautner's La grande sauterelle was also filmed in Beirut in 1967. Rebus, starring Ann-Margret was filmed on location at the Casino du Liban in 1969. While Honeybaby, Honeybaby was shot in 1974 in Beirut, the producers of The Man with the Golden Gun, which was partially set in Beirut, decided not to film in the Lebanese capital due to the burgeoning political problems.
Beirut hosted the first international film festival in the Arab world in 1971. Until the mid-1970s, the film industry in Lebanon was flourishing with market appeal that extended to neighboring Arabic-speaking countries. Lebanon was producing "a string of sexually indulgent films" such as Cats of Hamra Street and The Guitar of Love in 1973, starring Georgina Rizk, the Lebanese beauty queen who won Miss Universe in 1971. In the 1970s, cinema attendance in Lebanon was the highest among Arabic-speaking countries.
Read more about this topic: Cinema Of Lebanon