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Only Rebels Win

Panorama 2026
© Easy Riders Films
Beirut, Lebanon. Suzanne gets to know Osmane after saving him from a racist attack. Osmane is Sudanese, young, undocumented and searching for a better future. Suzanne is a middle-class widow with Palestinian roots, a mother of two adult children and well over twice his age. Unexpectedly, the two lonely souls open up to each other and connect. Shy at first, they grow closer, until they admit they are in love. As a fractured Lebanon teeters on the brink of collapse, their relationship provokes a wave of anger and indignation all around them. Suzanne’s children stop seeing her. Colleagues turn their backs on her. Priests refuse to marry them. Their neighbours call the police on them. The same people who threw the country into civil war now stand there, judging, forcing Suzanne and Osmane to face the hostility, and to resist.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

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by Danielle Arbid (Director, Screenplay)
with Hiam Abbass, Amine Benrachid, Shaden Fakih, Charbel Kamel, Alexandre Paulikevitch France / Lebanon / Qatar 2026 Arabic 98' Colour World premiere

With

  • Hiam Abbass (Suzanne)
  • Amine Benrachid (Osmane)
  • Shaden Fakih (Sana)
  • Charbel Kamel (Georges)
  • Alexandre Paulikevitch (Layal)

Crew

Director Danielle Arbid
Screenplay Danielle Arbid
Cinematography Céline Bozon
Editing Clément Pinteaux
Music Bachar Mar-Khalifé
Sound Design Emmanuel Zouki
Production Design Izaac Lacoue-Labarthe
Costumes Pauline Berland
Make-Up Hermia Hamzaoui
Casting Mona Khaouli
Producers Omar El Kadi, Nadia Turincev, Georges Schoucair
Executive Producers Omar El Kadi, Nadia Turincev
Co-Producers Amanda Turnbull,  Ziad Srouji, Antoine Khalife

Produced by

Easy Riders Films

Paris, France

Abbout Productions

Beirut, Lebanon

Co-produced by

Rise Studios

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Sunnyland Film

Limassol, Cyprus

World Sales

Fandango

Rom, Italy

Photos

Danielle Arbid

© Philippe Quaisse

The Lebanese-French filmmaker and video artist has already made a number of films that have met with festival success. Her feature films Maarek hob, Un homme perdu, Peur de rien and Passion simple were selected for Cannes, San Sebastián, Toronto, Busan and Locarno. Her documentaries and film essays have won awards including the Golden and Silver Leopard at Locarno and the Prix Albert Londres. Her video works have been exhibited in museums including the Centre Pompidou and presented at the Venice Biennale.

Filmography (selection)

2001 Seule avec la guerre (Alone with war); documentary 2003 Aux frontières (On borders); documentary · Conversations de salon; short film 2004 Dans les champs de bataille (In the Battlefields) 2007 Un homme perdu (A Lost Man); documentary 2015 Peur de rien (Parisienne); documentary 2020 Passion simple (Simple Passion) 2026 Only Rebels Win; Berlinale 2026

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2026