Susan Sarandon and Ben Stiller Are in Beirut!

I just stumbled upon a post by Beirut Digital District showing Susan Sarandon and Ben Stiller along with Nadine Labaki attending a private screening of the documentary film Soufra at BDD.

The film follows the story of a Palestinian refugee, Mariam Shaar, from Bourj Al Barajneh camp as she establishes a catering business with the help of other women from her community and succeeds to expand it into a food truck business with the funding and support of Alfanar venture philanthropy.

Soufra follows the unlikely and wildly inspirational story of intrepid social entrepreneur, Mariam Shaar – a generational refugee who has spent her entire life in the Burj El Barajneh refugee camp just south of Beirut, Lebanon. The film follows Mariam as she sets out against all odds to change her fate by launching a successful catering company, “Soufra,” and then expand it into a food truck business with a diverse team of fellow refugee woman who now share this camp as their home. Together, they heal the wounds of war through the unifying power of food while taking their future into their own hands through an unrelenting belief in Mariam, and in each other. In the process, Mariam is breaking barriers, pulling together Syrian, Iraqi, Palestinian and Lebanese women to work side by side and form beautiful friendships while running this thriving business.

Soufra will shine a new and revealing light on people inside of the largest refugee crisis in human history, but ultimately this film is about hope, grit, passion and the common bonds created by bringing people together around food as a bridge to overcome all barriers. Though Mariam is officially considered “stateless” she is a beacon of hope and home for thousands upon thousands of women in the most unlikely of places. Mariam and her team will be just that for thousands more once her story is told through Soufra. Source

Susan Sarandon is in fact the executive producer for Soufra and she decided to contribute into this documentary after learning about Mariam Shaar’s inspiring story.