supernatural thriller in this darkness i see you to world premiere at beyond fest in the us

Lebanese filmmaker Nadim Tabet’s new supernatural thriller IN THIS DARKNESS I SEE YOU is set to world premiere at Beyond Fest — the highest‑attended genre film festival in the US — running from September 23rd to October 5th in Los Angeles.

Founded in Los Angeles in 2013, Beyond Fest is a not‑for‑profit entity that raises funds for the American Cinematheque and showcases exceptional genre shorts and features noted for their uniqueness in content and form, with a special focus on horror, dark comedy, science fiction, fantasy, and mind‑bending films.

A co‑founder of the Lebanese Film Festival, Nadim Tabet studied history, philosophy, and cinema at Sorbonne University. He has directed numerous short films screened internationally, and his debut feature, ONE OF THESE DAYS, premiered at the Rome Film Festival before screening at festivals including Seattle and Dubai.

IN THIS DARKNESS I SEE YOU is his second feature, in which strange and life‑threatening events at a construction site spark tension between Syrian workers and Lebanese villagers, prompting Tarek, one of the workers, to believe the site is haunted.

Directed and co‑written by Tabet alongside Antoine Waked and Jamal Belmahi, the film — which won two awards at the Venice International Film Festival’s 12th Final Cut — stars Ziad Jallad, an Egyptian‑Lebanese actor known for DIRTY, DIFFICULT, DANGEROUS, which opened the 19th Giornate Degli Autori Competition at the 79th Venice International Film Festival and won the Europa Cinemas Best Film Award. He also appeared in Chloé Mazlo’s SKIES OF LEBANON, screened in the International Critics’ Week of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. Jallad has also broken internationally, appearing in acclaimed series including EMILY IN PARIS and HANNA.

Joining him is Lebanese actress and singer Marilyn Naaman, who starred in MOTHER VALLEY alongside iconic French actress Nathalie Baye, directed by Carlos Chahine, earning her Best Actress at the Amman International Film Festival. Beginning her musical career in 2020, she gained wide popularity across the Arab world and beyond for her outstanding participation in The Voice on TF1 in 2023.

The ensemble cast also includes Syrian actor Moe Lattouf, acclaimed for Ashley Pearce’s Shahid Original series FLIGHT 422. His film credits include Jimmy Keyrouz’s BROKEN KEYS, which world‑premiered at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival and was Lebanon’s official Academy Awards submission for Best International Feature Film, as well as Anna Fahr’s award-winning feature VALLEY OF EXILE. Rounding out the main cast is Lebanese actor Ziad Seaibe, known for the horror‑thriller MASKOUN, the drama VOID, and the comedy STATE OF AGITATION.

As he reflects on the complex relationship between Syrians and Lebanese following the Syrian occupation of the 1990s — and how it continues to shape dynamics between the two nationalities — Tabet sought to defy this taboo through a multilayered thriller infused with supernatural elements. He recalls how the idea first came to him: “The concept of IN THIS DARKNESS I SEE YOU began to take shape in my mind as I walked through a forest in Lebanon and witnessed Syrian workers constructing a real estate complex. Shortly after, I saw a curfew sign in the nearby village forbidding Syrians from circulating beyond a certain hour.”

“I quickly felt these two images revealed a larger truth about my country. And it wasn’t until I started to question my intuition that I realized it was related to this strange feeling that Lebanon is stuck in a spiral of eternal repetition.”

Beyond its Venice Final Cut awards, the film participated in the Focus Asia Project Market in Udine, the Frontières International Co‑Production Market in Montreal, the Cairo Film Connection, and Karlovy Vary’s Works in Progress Section, receiving prestigious support throughout production, including funding from the Red Sea Film Fund, the Doha Film Institute, the Lebanese Film Fund, and the CineGouna Funding.

A joint production between Lebanon, Qatar, KSA, and France, the film is produced by Georges Schoucair of Abbout Productions and Eli Souaiby, with co‑production companies Clandestino Films and Andolfi. It is lensed by Mark Khalife, edited by Loic Lallemand, and scored by Charbel Haber and Fadi Tabbal. World sales are handled by MAD World; MENA distribution is handled by Film Clinic Indie Distribution.