This year has proved one of monumental milestones for Ziad Doueiri. In March, the controversial Lebanese filmmaker made history as the first director to represent his country at the Academy Awards, with fourth picture “The Insult” (nominated for Best Foreign Language Film). Now, May marks the 20th anniversary of Doueiri’s game-changing debut “West Beirut”, which won the François Chalais Award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and was soon after hailed as the first Arabic-language film to enjoy a worldwide release. If Middle Eastern filmmaking has enjoyed a creative renaissance in the 21st century, then “West Beirut” helped pave the way.