About Us
Founded in 2016 by Sarah Kaskas and Liliane Rahal, Karaaj Films produces independent fiction and documentary films that focus on topics of identity and social injustice in marginalized communities.
Sarah Kaskas
https://vimeo.com/user5465556
writer, director, music composer, producer, co-founder
Sarah Kaskas is an award-winning Lebanese/American filmmaker, an Emmy Nominated producer and a film educator. Focusing on the struggles and perseverance of marginalized communities, Sarah’s films have been touring world renowned festivals such as Tribeca, Aspen Shortsfest, Odense International and Hollyshorts. In 2016, Sarah co-founded Karaaj Films and released “Bread and Tea” which premiered and won Best Short Documentary at Cinéma Vérité. Her feature documentary “Underdown” premiered at IDFA in 2018 and picked up 5 awards including the Grand Prix at Mediteran Film Festival and the Jury Prize at Malmö Arab Film Festival. Her short documentary “STRUCK” and short fiction “The Window” were both released in 2021. “The Window” has won Best Cinematography at Imagine This Women’s Film Festival and Best Narrative Short at Arab Film Festival. In 2022, Sarah produced “Beirut Dreams in Color,” which received an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Short Documentary.
Music Composer:
Sarah is a multi-instrumentalist composer working on film scores and her solo musical project Wanderland.
She received a nomination for Best Original Film Score at the Festival International du Film d’Aubagne in 2017 for her work on Bread and Tea and is the music composer of Underdown (2018) & STRUCK (2021).
In 2020, Sarah released her debut album Time Knows Better under her solo project Wanderland and was featured on the compilation album Beirut 20_21, produced by Beirut Music and Beyond and supported by SACEM.
Film Educator:
Sarah ventured into film education after leading a series of introductory filmmaking workshops in 2011 during which she taught cinematography, sound and editing.
She was a recurring sound instructor and post-sound supervisor with Bidayyat’s Documentary Workshop and the Lebanese American University (LAU) between 2015-2017.
In 2017, Sarah was hired as an Assistant Professor on tenure track at LAU where she teaches hands-on courses in directing, sound recording and design, producing, scriptwriting and editing. She has also mentored numerous award-winning student thesis films.
https://vimeo.com/user5465556
writer, director, music composer, producer, co-founder
Sarah Kaskas is an award-winning Lebanese/American filmmaker, an Emmy Nominated producer and a film educator. Focusing on the struggles and perseverance of marginalized communities, Sarah’s films have been touring world renowned festivals such as Tribeca, Aspen Shortsfest, Odense International and Hollyshorts. In 2016, Sarah co-founded Karaaj Films and released “Bread and Tea” which premiered and won Best Short Documentary at Cinéma Vérité. Her feature documentary “Underdown” premiered at IDFA in 2018 and picked up 5 awards including the Grand Prix at Mediteran Film Festival and the Jury Prize at Malmö Arab Film Festival. Her short documentary “STRUCK” and short fiction “The Window” were both released in 2021. “The Window” has won Best Cinematography at Imagine This Women’s Film Festival and Best Narrative Short at Arab Film Festival. In 2022, Sarah produced “Beirut Dreams in Color,” which received an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Short Documentary.
Music Composer:
Sarah is a multi-instrumentalist composer working on film scores and her solo musical project Wanderland.
She received a nomination for Best Original Film Score at the Festival International du Film d’Aubagne in 2017 for her work on Bread and Tea and is the music composer of Underdown (2018) & STRUCK (2021).
In 2020, Sarah released her debut album Time Knows Better under her solo project Wanderland and was featured on the compilation album Beirut 20_21, produced by Beirut Music and Beyond and supported by SACEM.
Film Educator:
Sarah ventured into film education after leading a series of introductory filmmaking workshops in 2011 during which she taught cinematography, sound and editing.
She was a recurring sound instructor and post-sound supervisor with Bidayyat’s Documentary Workshop and the Lebanese American University (LAU) between 2015-2017.
In 2017, Sarah was hired as an Assistant Professor on tenure track at LAU where she teaches hands-on courses in directing, sound recording and design, producing, scriptwriting and editing. She has also mentored numerous award-winning student thesis films.
Liliane Rahal
Producer, co-founder
Liliane Rahal is a Lebanese film producer and co-founder of Karaaj Films, an award winning production company focusing on topics on identity and social injustice. She began her producing career in 2005 where she freelanced on commercial content and web-series. Her drive to focus on original films started in 2016 when she produced and co-directed Bread and Tea and won Best Short Documentary at Cinéma Vérité along with a distribution deal with Yahoo! Japan.
In 2018, Liliane released the feature documentary Underdown and premiered at IDFA. It won 2 awards at FLIGHT/Mostra Internazionale del Cinema Genova, the Special Jury Award at Malmö Arab Film Festival, the Grand Prix Award at the Mediteran Film Festival and Best Documentary at Jerusalem Arab Film Festival. Underdown also received nominations at prestigious international film festivals including Edinburgh and Sao Paulo.
Since 2015, Liliane has participated in film programs and was awarded grants from a number of platforms including The Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, The Impact Lab, Doc Society, Qumra, Doha Film Institute, Global Media Makers, Film Independent, Fondation Liban Cinema, Rosa-Luxemburg and Heinrich-Böel.
Liliane is currently based between Barcelona and Beirut developing Karaaj Film’s first feature fiction film and freelancing as a project manager on Lebanon Series Lab by Fondation Liban Cinema and DW Akademy.
