„The breath of the city were us, the people“, says a citizen of Beirut from the off. One year after the explosion of Beirut’s port in August 2020 and in the wake of reconstruction, Simon El Habre sets out to explore his city’s urban planning since the end of the Civil War (1975-1990). Using military aerial photos dating from before the Civil War, documentary footage from the 1990s, original shots, and voice-recorded interviews, Re-destuction draws a social map of Beirut’s port-side neighbourhoods. Over the decades their people have become invisible to Lebanese politicians. Construction is booming. Corruption is flourishing. Through fixed shots El Habre makes us observe details of the locations he visited while we listen to the narrations of their unseen inhabitants, the breath of the film.
documentary, Simon El Habre, Lebanon 2021, 41 min, color, Arabic with Engl. ST
Director Simon El Habre | Writer Simon El Habre & Petra Serhal | Cinematography Bassem Fayad | Sound Chadi Roukoz | Editing Simon El Habre | Sound Editing / Mixing Victor Bresse | Production Jana Wehbe
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