Deep under Beirut's busiest shopping district lies a treasure trove of the Arab world's film history where movie buff Abbudi Abu Jawdeh has amassed vintage film posters spanning some 80 years.
What started as a childhood passion today offers a rare and little known pictorial record of Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, Palestinian and Lebanese films, including many that no longer exist, lost over time because of wars, fires or simple neglect. "I have loved cinema since I was a child and every Sunday, rather than go to church I would head to the movie theatre," said the 52-year-old Mr Abu Jawdeh, who runs a publishing house in Beirut's Hamra district where his collection is stored.
"Then as I got older I would set off on foot from my house in Burj Hammud (on the outskirts of Beirut) every Sunday and stop at each of the 40 movie theatres on the way to the capital to admire the posters and pictures on display," he added. "This is where I developed my passion."
His private collection consists of 20,000 posters of 5,000 films and includes what is likely the largest collection of Lebanese film posters going back to the 1950s and featuring legends of the silver screen such as Lebanese singing divas Fayruz and Sabah as well as actors such as Samira Tufic, Shams El Barudi and Abdel Halim Hafez.
The vibrantly coloured posters drawn by well-known artists of the time have become collector's items and offer a walk down memory lane, reflecting the changing cultures and styles of the past century.
"The oldest poster I have is of a 1933 Egyptian movie called Al Warda al Baydaa (The White Rose) and the oldest Lebanese poster is of a 1958 movie entitled Al Shams La Tagheeb (The Sun Never Sets)," said Mr Abu Jawdeh.
Many posters, which were printed using the process of stone lithography, include movies with daring titles such as Laheeb Al Jasad (Body Heat), Mariam Al Khatiaa (Mariam the Sinner), Nisaa Muharrama (Forbidden Women) or Imraa Likul Al Rijal (A Woman for All Men) and portray actresses in provocative poses and skimpy outfits that would never make it past censors in today's increasingly conservative Arab world.