And the living is easy by Lamia Joreige

Lamia Joreige is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Beirut. She uses archival documents and fictitious elements to reflect on the relationship between individual stories and collective history. Joreige has presented her work in various exhibition venues and film festivals, including FID Marseille (International competition 2015); Centre Pompidou, Paris; the New Museum, New York; the Tate Modern, London; MoMA, San Francisco; Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York; Art Factum Gallery, Beirut; Les Rencontres Internationales Paris/ Berlin; the Rotterdam International Film Festival; Paris Cinema; the Mediterranean Festival of Cinema, Montpellier; and Home Works II and IV, Beirut. Joreige is also a co-founder and board member of Beirut Art Center, a non-profit space dedicated to contemporary art in Lebanon.

Beirut, 2011: the city remains strangely quiet, in a state of expectancy, while the region is in great turmoil. Through five characters, mostly non-professional actors, Lamia Joreige creates a unique portrayal of her native town. Whether a salesman, a musician, an artist or an actress, each one expresses his or her deep attachment to Beirut but inability to live there. Over several months, the director asked them to perform scenes inspired by their love affairs, professional lives, friendships and the places dear to them. The city and their feelings become deeply intertwined. The sweetness of their lives conceals anxieties over political instability in the country and region and a fear of conflict, as the scars of previous wars in Lebanon remain fresh.