Rita El Hachem of Stoked Films in 'geographically cursed' Beirut.

30 April 2026

Rita El Hachem of Stoked Films talked to us from Beirut, a city which has been caught in the crossfire as Israel has been emboldened by the war with Iran to use violence to eliminate any perceived threat in the Middle East.

The crises faced by many companies in the advertising industry as they grapple with shrinking budgets and the advance of AI pale into insignificance when you consider the plight of those in the Middle East caught in the crossfire of the American and Israeli attacks on Iran and Lebanon. None more so than Rita El Hachem of Stoked Films who was in her home city of Beirut when the bombs started falling.

Having grown up in Lebanon, Rita is accustomed to witnessing the violence that results from geopolitical and sectarian conflict. She is remarkably sanguine about the current situation and hopeful for a resolution that will being peace to Beirut, the rest of the country and the whole region.

During our conversation, Rita revealed that the 2020 Beirut Explosion was the single most traumatic event she can recall. This was the accidental detonation of a store of confiscated ammonium nitrate which prompted by a nearby fire that resulted in one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever experienced on the planet, and led to 218 deaths, thousands of injuries and the displacement of nearly a third of a million people.

Reflections from Beirut

Beirut has experienced so much turmoil over the last fifty years, but - as Rita makes very clear - it remains a beautiful city, and one that will thrive again as soon as it is given the opportunity... with remarkable people like Rita El Hachem leading the way.

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