LOS ANGELES: The exclusive group of film journalists that awards the Golden Globes, one of Tinseltown’s biggest and glitziest shows, was accused Monday of sabotaging non-members while gorging on lavish perks and unparalleled access to Hollywood stars.
An antitrust lawsuit filed against the Hollywood Foreign Press Association said the organization illegally monopolized entertainment reporting in Los Angeles while creating near-impossible barriers to entry for new members.
“All year long, HFPA members enjoy all-expenses-paid trips to film festivals around the world where the studios treat them lavishly and accommodate their every desire,” said the suit brought by Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa.
“Qualified applicants for admission to the HFPA are virtually always rejected because the majority of its 87 members are unwilling to share or dilute the enormous economic benefits they receive as members,” it adds.
Lebanese filmmaker turns archival footage into a love letter to Beirut
Updated 28 February 2026
Tarek Ali Ahmad and Zaira Lakhpatwala
LONDON: Lebanese filmmaker Lana Daher’s debut feature “Do You Love Me” is a love letter of sorts to Beirut, composed entirely of archival material spanning seven decades across film, television, home videos and photography.
The film premiered at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in September and has since traveled to several regional and international festivals.
Pink Smoke (2020) by Ben Hubbard. (Supplied)
With minimal dialogue, the film relies heavily on image and sound to reconstruct Lebanon’s fragmented history.
“By resisting voiceover and autobiography, I feel like I had to trust the image and the shared emotional landscape of these archives to carry the meaning,” Daher said.
A Suspended Life (Ghazal el-Banat) (1985) by Jocelyne Saab. (Supplied)
She explained that in a city like Beirut “where trauma is rarely private,” the socio-political context becomes the atmosphere of the film, with personal memory expanding into a collective experience — “a shared terrain of emotional history.”
Daher said: “By using the accumulated visual representations of Beirut, I was, in a way, rewriting my own representation of home through images that already existed."
Whispers (1980) by Maroun Bagdadi. (Supplied)
Daher, with editor Qutaiba Barhamji, steered clear of long sequences, preferring individual shots that allowed them to “reassemble meaning” while maintaining the integrity of their own work and respecting the original material, she explained.
The film does not feature a voice-over, an intentional decision that influenced the use of sound, music, and silence.
The Boombox (1995) by Fouad Elkoury. (Supplied)
“By resisting the urge to fill every space with dialogue or score, we created room for discomfort,” Daher said, adding that silence allows the audience to sit with the image and enter its emotional space rather than being guided too explicitly.
The film was a labor of love, challenging Daher personally and professionally.
“When you draw from personal memory, you’re not just directing scenes, you’re revisiting parts of yourself and your childhood,” she said. “There’s vulnerability in that.”
