Even without the current Middle East war hogging the headlines, most of us in the West know so very little about Lebanon.  And even less if it has anything approaching the LGBTQ+ community.  However thanks to this new compelling documentary from queer Lebanese filmmaker Raed Rafei i feel I at least know a little now.  Rafei had been a Middle East reporter for national and international publications and as a researcher, producer, and director of TV news reports and documentaries for channels like Al-Jazeera, CNN, and ARTE for 10 years. However since 2011 he has been an Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Pittsburgh where he has also continued being an independent filmmaker. TRIPOLI / A TALE OF THREE CITIES is an account of his return to his hometown that once rejected him

With a microphone in hand Rafei approaches a cross section of Tripoli residents and interviews them about their cultural and social beliefs which naturally includes sexuality.  Halfway through the film one interviewee asks the question that has been on our minds since the opening credits : “Is it a luxury to think about these issues in a collapsing country” And whilst we are mulling that over the questioner adds “Why should we ignore the problem until we are the Switzerland of the Orient again?”

Whilst Rafei doesn’t attempt to play down any of the major problems or minimalise them,  what does shine through so clearly is his love for his home town. Warts and all.  He tells us regardless of all of this, he always knows where he really belongs.

He encounters several marginalized individuals who appear quite eccentric in this conservative Muslim country.  They include a communist activist and a queer music producer and he explores how they fit in this city in crisis.  They are part of the picture that Rafei is painting of a city trapped in self-spin web, having to deal with a disastrous economy and a struggling revolution.  Most of the comments he gets about sexuality are the standard lines from the Koran, but I’m not sure if I was kidding myself, they didn’t appear so rampantly homophobic like from other highly religious cultures.

Rafei’s love for Tripoli may be a tad  infectious but still not enough for me to jump on the next plane.  However I did appreciate this fascinating insight to the place he calls home