People's Cinema Club: Do You Love Me
The Village of Industry & Art
320 S Broad St.
Philadelphia
Sept. 29, 2026
People’s Cinema Club is a free film club curated by BlackStar alongside some of the city’s finest presenters of independent cinema including, cinéSPEAK, Philadelphia Asian American Film Foundation and the Philadelphia Latino Arts & Film Festival. Each week the PCC convenes at the Village of Industry & Art to screen some of the most forward-thinking works of filmmakers from around the world. On Tuesday, Sept. 29, the PCC hosted a packed house for the Philadelphia premier of Lana Daher’s 2025 experimental documentary Do You Love Me.
Sourced from over 20,000 pieces of footage, the film depicts over 70 years of life, love, death and war in Daher’s home city of Beirut, Lebanon. Beginning in 2018, Daher embarked on the painstaking process of piecing together an untold number of home videos, films, photos and more. At times, Daher and editor Qutaiba Barhamji will present multiple frames in which each subject engages in the same activity. Dancing, hanging at the beach, riding through the war-torn streets of Beirut, each of these sequences are surprisingly consistent despite being separated by decades. This collage-like approach beautifully captures the nuances of social and political life in Lebanon across generations. In stark contrast to the warm and soulful moments, the film frequently drops the viewer into a maelstrom of violence and unpredictable chaos. Clips of bombings and day time gun fights are sharply edited alongside moments of real joy and connection. All of this happens in the broader context of the populist uprising, a bloody civil war and Western intervention that has marked Lebanon’s history.
By placing the dignity and humanity of the Lebanese people at its center, Do You Love Me reclaims the memories and experiences of a people who’ve been through hell on Earth. As a result, the film is capable of incredibly soft, introspective moments as well as great drama and violence, striking a balance that is all too reflective of the human experience.
