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How could it happen that Beirut was transformed from the 'Pearl of the East' into 'Hell on Sea'? Metres of bookshelves have been written, kilometres of rubble filmed and still there is no answer. For a long time, journalists have ceased to look for the cause, but search instead for the most emotive name for the Lebanese capital: City Without Hope, Open Wound, or, for the deep thinkers Lebanam. Jayce Salloum doesn't seem to be any closer to an answer either, despite the thousands of film fragments that he has collected in the past few years (200 hours of material just for his 'This is not Lebanon') about what you could irreverently call 'the Arabic question'. Salloum's subject is never the question itself, but the way principally the western media report it: the stereotypes that are used and the simplifications which ultimately lead to falsifications. In 'This is not Beirut' he shows the preparation of the umpteenth documentary about the inextricable conflict. The outline of the warring factions looks like the metro system of a cosmopolitan city the metropolis that Beirut itself once was, judging by the brightly coloured postcards that proudly praise the centuries old ruins. The field of tension that Beirut now is, is powerfully represented by two high tension cables which keep shorting against each other. Salloum closes his personal video with the number 'Love letter straight from my heart'. Then, the sun sets over what was once the Paris of the Middle East.
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André Nientied
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Camera: Noor Nooredine, Walid Ra'ad, Editing: Stuart M. Rankin, Sound and sound mixing: Jan Levis, Research: Sana N. Issa, Karen Moukheiber, Ali Ajami, Graphics: Deane Stillar, With thanks to: Chanem Ra'ad, Walid Ra'ad, Helen & Al Salloum, Production: Walid Ra'ad, The Banff Centre, Sara Diamond, Jayce Salloum
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