LBN 1

Maabar is an on-going podcast series retracing the modern history of Lebanon through first-hand stories. Cutting across two genres — oral History and documentary — the cascade of stories told depicts a people-centered, multi-faceted view of what took place and the meaning it carries.

Severely battered from the Beirut port explosion on August 4th, Minerva passed away eight days later. Her son Joseph, while still grieving for his loss, collided into a long and absurd bureaucratic path of the inept system that disowned his mother as a victim of the blast.

Beirut - or any other city at war with itself. Here conflicts are never settled, no wall is rebuilt. Heroin doses cost 5 US dollars. I call on some acquaintances and send a few postcards.

Charting the rise and fall of Manivelle, an automaton gifted from France to Lebanon on the occasion of its independence, the film catches up with the worn-out robot today. Could the "Man of Tomorrow" truly die or is he just putting on a show?

Said is doing his first night of duty as a security guard under the bridge in the middle of Beirut. With only a walkie-talkie and a torch, he is trying to take his job seriously. At sunrise, the city will have crushed him...