Fritz Ofner
Austria | 2012 | 28 min
Language : Arabic
Subtitles : English, French
Sometimes a cigarette break is all it takes. Beirut Blend merges together different voices. Shot in a soft but precise black and white, the film is a fragment of a world that has been caught up one too many times in wars. These fragments of peace become the signs of hope. Hope that there can maybe still be the chance for a world where smoking or chatting does not have to be only a break from war.
Sometimes a cigarette break is all it takes. A break from the troubles of daily life. Just a little break. Pretending that for once the world could stop spinning allowing us to catch our breath again. Beirut Blend is a film that merges together different voices. Shot in a soft but precise black and white, the film is a fragment of a world that has been caught up one too many times in wars. Filmed mostly in the corners of bar or gardens, the director joins the friendly chat of people who talk about what is going on in the world with the so-called Arab Spring and other issues of world politics. Some of them spin fascinating conspiracy theories while others dream of going away, if only for a short period of time. Beirut Blend manages that most difficult thing: to portrait an historically accurate situation while listening to what the people have to say. These little fragments of peace become therefore the signs of hope. Hope that there can maybe still be the chance for a world where smoking or chatting does not have to be only a small break but the normalcy of a daily life without the fear of another war. Giona A. Nazzaro
