Very Big Shot

Tired of low-rent drug deals and turf wars, Ziad (co-writer Alain Saadeh) is determined to leave the family pizza business—the front for his illegal activity—and move up Beirut’s underworld ladder. Inspiration strikes when Ziad visits a coke-addled movie director to collect a debt: He and his brothers can smuggle a cache of stolen drugs past customs in film-reel canisters. In order to make the scam work, the siblings have to put together the semblance of a real movie production down to the smallest details, from acquiring permits to “casting” their “film” about interfaith romance. But their cover story starts to evolve into a genuine passion project—and all of the skills Ziad honed as a criminal turn out to make him a top-notch producer. Adapting his award-winning short Filmmakers, first-time writer-director Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya balances a brutal crime thriller and a backstage farce with a brashness that mirrors his industry-player protagonist. A bold new voice in Lebanese cinema, he comes rushing out of the gate with this sensational, social conscience-tinged shot of adrenaline. —David Fear