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Beirut Dreams in Color is a short documentary directed by two-time Emmy and Grierson-nominated filmmaker Michael Collins, produced by Thoughtful Robot Productions and commissioned by Guardian Documentaries. The film follows Hamed Sinno, the openly gay frontman of Lebanese rock band Mashrou' Leila, and Sarah Hegazi, an Egyptian activist and fan whose life changed forever after she raised a rainbow flag at one of the band's concerts in Cairo.
With a festival run ahead, starting at Tribeca, the film needed a finish worthy of its subject. The grade and sound had to carry both the energy of Mashrou' Leila's music and the weight of deeply personal stories, while meeting the technical standards of cinema screens around the world and an online release through The Guardian.
Fotomedia colour graded, audio mixed and finished the film in-house. Our colourist crafted a rich, vivid grade that lives up to the film's title, while our audio team balanced interviews, live performance and Andrew Dost's original score into one seamless mix. We also encoded English-subtitled Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs) so the film could screen at festivals around the world. Released by The Guardian, Beirut Dreams in Color went on to be nominated for Outstanding Short Documentary at the 44th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
