Some unfortunate news. The Beirut Film Festival has been canceled by its organizers, due to concerns that violence spurred by the upcoming presidential elections could endanger attendees and presenters.

Festival Director Colette Naufal explained, "We like to say the show must go on, but if there's a physical war, we cannot stage the festival this year. We have to be practical."

This would have been the eighth incarnation of the festival, which focuses on films of the Middle East and showcases young talent. Feature length and short films in various formats are screened in and out of competition.

The festival was not held in 2004 or 2005 due to a lack of funding, political assassinations and other strife.

The 2006 festival went on as planned, although the war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerillas posed a threat. NPR's Jamie Tarabay reported at the time that the battle actually provided local filmmakers with material. Then-director Eliane Rehab said that "since so many filmmakers responded to the recent conflict by making movies about it, there'll be a special session during the festival dedicated to the films. It'll be called Videos Under Siege."