1958

This film is inspired by two events that shaped the filmmaker: his birth in Dakar, Senegal, host country to his parents, and the internal tensions in Lebanon, signs of the civil war to come. These happened on the same date, inspiring the title of this medium-length film. Ghassan Salhab, a major figure in the Lebanese film scene, presents a work  that the viewer has to penetrate layer by layer, grasping a complex patchwork of visual and acoustic musings and impressions. The narrative rhythm immerses us in the past, with, as an example, images of the US military intervention in July 1958, sharpening our perspective to invite a questioning of the present. A love of life opposes a destructive movement: a man's origins, as well as those of a nation, are compared and questioned in the context of exile, belonging and politics. The present here goes beyond the notion of time and becomes a state of mind, exploring the immense human territories in which “I”, “you” and “we” resonate as though part of a polyphony.