A year after Beirut’s port explosion, Basma and Mariam reunite in their old bedroom. Surrounded by a view of the port’s remains, the two women attempt to resolve their shared trauma and broken relationship.
Hantirah has her future laid out. Esma dances, in search of freedom. On the eve of Aid, their thwarted love is sung between the streets of Barbès and a queer cabaret, theaters of young people of Arab origin, diverse and modern.
A visit to a cosmetic-surgery clinic and the discovery of a lump in his testicle and an abscess in his mouth confront filmmaker Selim Mourad with transience and decay in this unashamedly navel-gazing film essay. ‘Selim from Beirut’ is the last in a long list of names of extinct species he recites during a loveless Grindr meet up.
