terra incognita

Present-day Beirut, a city seven times destroyed, and re-built as often. A city in a constant state of construction, mutating, in the same manner as the film’s main character, Soraya, and also Leyla, Tarek, Nadim and Haïdar.
Soraya who is a tourist guide, travelling all over the country, looking for the remains of past civilizations, which sometimes merge with those of recent wars. Soraya, who forgets herself in the arms of passing lovers, gathering one visa after the other.
Leyla who hesitates between heightened mysticism and atheism.
Nadim, an architect who reinvents his city, contributing his stone to the process of destruction and reconstruction.
Tarek who has recently returned to the country, and is wondering why.
Haïdar, a spectator of the news he delivers on the radio, as well as if his own existence.

Characters that find themselves suspended, stuck in the present. They do not dare to look behind them, nor project themselves forward.

What lives, what stories, can one invent, following a catastrophe?