Are you as excited about the sixth edition of Beirut's own Arab Film Festival as we are? Dispel any doubts by checking out the program and reading our special series of daily reviews, daily interviews and reports, including Hania Mroue, Dima El-horr, Hicham Kayed, Nada Abdelsamad, Ghassan Salhab, Farouk Beloufa and Michel Khleifi. We'll be adding more every day of the festival, bringing you top-notch insights, opinions and behind-the-scenes views from some the region's finest filmmakers.

As it does every two years, Ayam Beirut Al Cinema'iya (The Cinema Days of Beirut) will take place this September, in its sixth edition. The festival opens the door for Arab filmmakers to gather, meet and exchange ideas, and was the first platform for young Lebanese and Arab filmmakers to present their films. This year The Cinema Days of Beirut will be presenting a selection of Arab and Lebanese films, most of which are shown for the first time to the Lebanese audience.

Parallel events to the festival will also be held, such as The World Cinema Fund grant, a pitching session for seven Arab documentaries, the BBC Arabia platforms, master classes with acclaimed filmmakers and the Lebanese-Danish exchange.

The festival's schedule

Thursday September 16th
7:30pm - Opening Film: Every Days Is a Holiday  (by Dima El Horr) - 84'

Friday September 17th
4pm BBC Arabic Platform
6pm Launching DVD  The One Man Village  (by Simon El-Habre)
7pm Waiting for Abu Zayd (by Mohamad Ali Atassi) - 82'
9:30pm Shorts Night: Beirut Express, Garagouz, A Tuesday, Missing, the Fifth Column, Into the Belly of the Whale, You Bet

Saturday September 18th
11am - 1:00pm Masterclass Arne Bro - IESAV
4pm- 6pm Presentation World Cinema Fund
6:30pm Back to One's Roots (by Bilal Youssef) - 54'
8pm Zindeeq (by Michel Khleifi) - 84'

9:30pm Students Night: Dirty Mirror, House Among Many Houses, Look Inside, Sayda, Tom, Chez Aziz le Fils, The Unknown Woman

Sunday September 19th
10:00 to 3pm Pitching - IESAV
5pm Fertile Memory (by Michel Khleifi) - 99'
7pm Nahla (by Farouk Beloufa) - 110'
10pm Neighbours (by Tahani Rached) - 105'

Monday September 20th
6pm Once Upon our Time (by Hichem Ben Ammar) - 84'
8pm How Bitter My Sweet (by Mohamed Soueid) - 90'
10pm Dreams of the City (by Mohammed Malas) - 120'

Tuesday September 21th
6pm Aziza (by Abdellatif Ben Ammar) - 100'
        The Lebanese-Danish Exchange Session 1 - 90'
7pm ARTE evening The Hunter (by Rafi Pitts) - 92'
                                  Fix Me (by Raed Andoni) - 98'

Wednesday September 22nd
6pm In Pieces  (by Hakim Belabbes) - 91'
7:30pm Harragas (by Merzak Allouache) - 103'
10pm The Mountain (by Ghassan Salhab) - 85' The Lebanese-Danish Exchange Session 2 - 90'

Thursday September 23rd
11am Master Class Ghassan Salhab and Teguia - IESAV
6pm Port of Memory (by Kamal Aljafari) - 70'
7pm Son of Babylon (by Mohamed Al Daradji) - 90'
9:30pm Inland (by Tariq Teguia) - 138'

Friday September 24th
11am Master Class Ghassan Salhab and Tariq Teguia - IESAV
6pm Carte Blanche to BBC Arabic: Jews of Lebanon (by Nada Abdelsamad) - 45'
7:30pm We Were Communists (by Maher Abi Samra) - 84'
10pm The Long Night (by Hatem Ali) - 94'

Saturday Septmber 25th
11am Master Class Olivier Assayas - IESAV
5pm Children Screenings
6pm Closing Film: Carlos (by Olivier Assayas) - 333'

Sunday September 26th
Palestine in the New Cinema Film Festival
5pm To My Dad (by Abdelsalam Shehade) - 54'
6:30pm The Kingdom of Women (Dahna Abou Rahme) - 54
8pmPomegranates and Myrrh (by Najwa Najjar) - 95'
10pm Laila's Birthday (by Rachid Masharawi) - 70'

For more information check out www.beirutdc.org