In 1896 the French laid the first railway in the Lebanon between Beirut and Damascus. Today this connection is no longer in use. The video is the record of a expedition along the former stations on the disused old line. The video opens on the scene of a woman rushing to catch a train just about to leave; she is shouting almost desperately that she wants to board it for the journey. Slowly the camera fades over to the departing train which finally appears to consist merely of decaying remnants. This mix of hectic activity around a busy transport artery cutting straight across the Lebanon and the present reality of decaying stations and rails is the red thread running through the video-maker's personal quest. The memories of times past are composed of clips taken from films such as 'Shanghai Express', 'Duel in the Sun' and 'Some Like It Hot'. The sounds of Arabic music, of pop music, and of fragments of film sound-track form the background to a personal chain of associations which connects together the distinctive mood and ambience of the various stations and locations visited. The associations are alternately heroic and romantic, larger-than-life versions of things as they once were: "the train used to leave and come back", remarks one of the present-day station dwellers dryly. But the memories cherished by these occupants in their interviews are mainly romantic in character, like the tales of the gold supposedly buried all along the line. "Everything was better in the past". The train is missed. Thus in their different ways Rania Stephan and her interviewees each in their own way contribute to this personal reconstruction of time past. Like a slow train the camera moves on to the next stop with its particular store of memories and associations. Those who remain behind receive a Polaroid photograph of themselves. We watch the photograph develop; a new memory is born. Not for nothing, perhaps, the documentary ends with the announcement: "to be continued".
– Loek Stolwijk |
Camera, geluid: Anne de Mo
Editing: Rania Stephan, Anne de Mo
Production: Mohamed Soueid/Ayloul Festival, Future TV
Rania Stephan, 1960, Beirut (Lebanon)
Lives and works in Paris (France)
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