15.05.25, 20:30, Phantom Beirut (1998)

As the Lebanese civil war died out in the late 1980s, a group of peers try to find their place in Beirut. After a decade, the conflict has become a foregone conclusion. Although the destruction can be read in the streets, everyone is also trying to resume normality. However, the return of long-missing Khalil tears open old wounds. At the beginning of the war, this ex-soldier disappeared and was thought dead by friend and foe alike. When an old acquaintance spots him back in the street one day, the ghosts of the past become restless again.

With the restoration of Phantom Beirut, one of Lebanese cinema's sunken treasures resurfaces. This debut feature from director Ghassan Salhab manages to poetically capture the confusion and pain of a torn Lebanon. Interweaving documentary, fiction and visual experimentation, it pays tribute to the inconsistencies and contradictions of collective memory. The narrative is further interspersed with portraits in which the actors share their memories of the years of bloodshed. The violence leaves its echoes and history continues to haunt.

This film will be introduced by film scholar Yara Chehayed.