Rawane Nassif

Set in a Doha traffic jam, this film narrates the stream of consciousness flowing through a cross-section of Qatari society as they meditate on their lives.

I left Lebanon in 2006. For the past 10 years I lived in 7 countries, 10 cities, and 21 homes. I slept in 21 beds, cooked in 21 kitchens, cleaned 21 bathrooms, stared at 21 windows, wrote on 21 desks, and locked 21 doors behind me. I packed all of my life into two suitcases and a backpack. The rest stayed behind. Somebody somewhere uses my bed, somebody somewhere has my shoes. I was there. But now I am here.

A woman lives alone in a hotel room. Dreaming of the city, she gets lost in its intricacies, etching her skin silently, chiseling at the limit of her consciousness, reconstructing her image. Slowly she grows older. Slowly she films herself, the city, and her dreams for a month. With some objects, a routine, and a deep desire to feel, she escapes. The night comes silently, a door opens, and she walks away. The house is a body that flies. This is her journey from loneliness to aloneness.

After a twenty year absence, Rawane Nassif returns home in Msaytbeh, Beirut. Msaytbeh, (from the word Mastaba, the elevated place) was home to a loving and diverse neighbourhood of secular leftists. Upon her return, Rawane realises that the life and community she left behind has drastically changed.