Speaker Abboudi Abou Jaoude

Abboudi Bou Jaoude is a Beirut-based collector, researcher, publisher, and archivist dedicated to preserving the visual and popular culture of Lebanon and the wider Middle East. His passion for collecting began as a teenager, when he would walk the streets of Beirut gathering movie posters, lobby cards, postcards, newspapers, and other printed material that might otherwise have been discarded.

More than fifty years later, his archive has grown to include over 20,000 original vintage Middle Eastern movie posters, press books, photographs, and related printed ephemera. He has curated numerous exhibitions and has researched and documented the history of Lebanese cinema, including an award-winning book covering the period from 1929 to 1979.

Through his collection, research, and preservation work, Bou Jaoude has helped safeguard an important record of the region’s cinema, graphic culture, and everyday visual history. He sees the archive as a means of preserving the art, culture, and social memory of Lebanon and the Middle East for future generations.