Back Road Productions is thrilled to announce that its documentary "The Lebanese Burger Mafia" has been nominated for a prestigious James Beard Award. Known as the Oscars of the food world, the James Beard Awards celebrate excellence in culinary arts, showcasing the best in global food culture. "The Lebanese Burger Mafia" has been recognized in the category of Documentary Visual Media, which honors outstanding achievements in food-related documentary productions. This nomination not only underscores the film's compelling storytelling but also its valuable exploration of food and culture on screen.

We’re proud to announce Omar Mouallem and LBM are nominated for the 2024 Edmonton Film Prize, along with Cody Lightning, director of Hey, Viktor! (which was also produced by Blake McWilliam of Back Road Productions) and Adam Scorgie of Thunder: The Life & Death of Arturo Gatti. The winner will be awarded on May 1st. Thank you Edmonton Arts Council and congrats to all the Edmonton Arts Prize finalists!

Planning any trips this summer? Take The Lebanese Burger Madia with you when you’re flying WestJet or United Airlines. Find the movie on their in-flight entertainment. Further inquires for in-flight viewing can be directed to Pantalon Distribution.

Unfortunately, we’ve learned from many frustrated subscribers of Paramount+ channel via Prime/AppleTV of a faulty or glitching audio mix causing the music to overpower the dialogue. We’ve tried repeatedly and with much frustration to ask P+ to fix it, but they have shown apathy towards addressing the issue, which is not only insulting to its customers but the artists behind our film.

We want to emphasize this experience is in no way representative of musician Ashraf El-Assaly or sound designer Johnny Blerot, both of whom received award nominations for their work on this film. We’d truly rather you not watch the Lebanese Burger Mafia at all than try to than try to endure this version with subtitles.

To our knowledge, this issue occurs exclusively when watching through Prime's P+ subscription channel. If you’re beholden to Paramount+ as a Prime channel, you have other options:

1. Cancel the P+ Prime sub and re-sign up directly through the P+ app (the cost is the same).

2. Watch the movie on Prime Video via laptop or tablet/phone apps. Although these methods may not be the most ideal, they do not experience the audio problem.

3. Rent the film on Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, or another VOD platform.

We also encourage you to contact support@paramountplus.com and voice your frustrations with their poor customer experience.

LBM is now streaming exclusively on Paramount+ Canada. Outside streaming rights are still available. Contact MAD Film & Distribution.

The Lebanese Burger Mafia is now available to rent online on all video-on-demand platforms in Canada and will be streaming on Paramount+ Canada on January 26th.

The Lebanese Burger Mafia took home Best Documentary and Best Documentary Director at the 11th annual Silk Road International Film Festival in Dublin, Ireland! Thank you to SRIFF organizers and jurors and MAD Solutions for this honour. Click here for a full list of winners.

The Alberta Media Production Industries Association awarded the Rosie for Best Screenwriter (Documentary Over 30 Minutes) to The Lebanese Burger Mafia’s writer/director Omar Mouallem. Thank you AMPIA for this honour and for also nominating LBM in the categories of Best Documentary Production (Over 30 Min.) and Best Sound (Documentary Over 30 Min.).

levelFilm has secured an official Canadian theatrical release on November 10th, with the first confirmed theatre at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto with four dates (Nov. 10–12 & 17). Theatre programmers interested in playing LBM are encouraged to contact levelFilm.

The Lebanese Burger Mafia has been nominated for three Rosies by the Alberta Media Production Industries Association!

Best Documentary Production Over 30 minutes (Dylan Rhys Howard, Omar Mouallem & Blake McWilliam)

Best Screenwriter – Documentary Over 30 minutes (Omar Mouallem)

Best Overall Sound – Documentary Over 30 minutes (Johnny Blerot)

LBM will have its Netherlands premiere on September 9 at the Arab Film Festival Rotterdam. The festival runs from Sep. 5–10. Tickets available now.

We are proud to receive a second place Honourable Mention for Best Feature Film From the Toronto Arab Film Festival. The jury said of LBM: “A heartfelt and insightful documentary about burgers and the ties that bind in the Lebanese diaspora.”

We’re proud to receive two audience choice awards from Northwest International Documentary Festival for Best Documentary and Best Alberta Documentary! For a full list of winners visit northwestfest.ca.

The Lebanese Burger Mafia will begin its festival run with a world premiere at Hot Docs, which will be held from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto. The feature film will have its world premiere on May 3rd, 2023, at the Isabel Bader Theatre at 5:30 pm, with an encore presentation on May 5th at TIFF Lightbox Theatre at 2:15 pm. Tickets and festival passes are on sale now.

Back Road Productions has secured worldwide sales and distribution rights ahead of the film's festival run. MAD Solutions has acquired distribution rights for the Middle East/North African region. Based in Cairo, MAD was founded in 2013 to operate in film and TV distribution niches currently not being served in the Arabic-speaking world. Its films have been to such international festivals as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, and Toronto. The deal with MAD Solutions was brokered by Brigitte Hubmann and Jennifer Price of Film Associates International on behalf of the production.