Noel Paul, the American director now based in Beirut has made this compelling short film and promo, filmed under remarkably testing conditions for the Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila - as Noel explains here.

NOEL PAUL:

"I've made a longform music video for the Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila. It was shot in Beirut where I have been based for a few years now, and on a livestock vessel in the Mediterranean. 

"The story follows a sailor working on a livestock transport that brings cows from Europe to the Levant to be slaughtered. His girlfriend works at a karaoke bar in Beirut. He deserts his ship in a Spanish port while she has a lonely night in Lebanon. The song is a prayer to the classical muse of the voice, Aoede, asking her for words.

"It was a very risky guerilla production that involved shooting in ports up and down the Lebanese coast and a taking a trucker’s ferry to Turkey and back. The band doesn’t have a label, there was no production company involved, and even if there had been, no insurance company would touch us cause we were shooting in ports and ships at sea.

"We had to send the film to Prague to get it developed and scanned as there's no lab in Lebanon... All in all it’s been a real journey. Check it out if you have 13 minutes and thank you!"