Dania Bdeir

Dania Bdeir is a Lebanese writer-director with an intense emotional connection to her homeland. Lebanon and its tumultuous history are both a source of deep sorrow and her greatest artistic inspiration. She is a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective. She first studied graphic design at the American University of Beirut before pursuing filmmaking at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her student film Meshkal was screened at numerous festivals across France, Morocco, Pakistan, Mexico, the Czech Republic, India, and more. It received the Award of Excellence at the Canada International Film Festival 2014 and the Golden Palm at the Mexico International Film Festival the same year. Her thesis short In White (2017), funded by the Spike Lee Production Fund, had its world premiere at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and was selected by the BFI London Film Festival, Uppsala International Short Film Festival, and more than 30 others worldwide. It won a dozen awards, including the International Jury Grand Prize at the 2017 Rio de Janeiro Short Film Festival. In 2019, Dania was selected for Berlinale Talents and participated in the Berlinale Short Film Station with her fiction short Warsha, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and won the Best International Short Film Award. It had its European premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2022.

Dania is currently developing her first feature film Pigeon Wars at Le Groupe Ouest. The project was selected in 2018 for the TorinoFilmLab x DFI Hezaya Screenwriting Lab and in 2021 for the Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab.

Pigeon Wars

Sélection Annuelle 2022

Rana, 20, is a brilliant and fiercely independent student who has completely cut ties with her parents. Bold and competitive, she spends her days roaming the streets of Beirut, pushing back against patriarchy wherever she sees it. When she stumbles upon the secretive, male-dominated world of pigeon wars, she becomes captivated by the idea of conquering the skies. With the help of Hassan, also 20—a gentle, selfless young man from a very different world who always puts others first—Rana begins to find her place in this new world. As they train together on the rooftops of Beirut, an unexpected friendship blossoms. Despite their differences, they gradually grow closer, learning from one another along the way. Hassan realizes it’s okay to chase his own dreams, while Rana comes to understand that her relentless ambition is driven by a deep emotional wound—one she must confront by returning home and facing her parents.