World Premiere for “Taste of cement”, a film by Ziad Kalthoum -produced by Bidayyat and

BASIS BERLIN Filmproduktion- at the official competition of Visions du Réel International Film Festival.

Screening date: 23 April 16:30, Salle Communale

About the film:

Each morning at sunrise, Syrian workers in Lebanon climb construction sites, their hammer strokes waking the country – a country they only know from distance, as they are banned from moving through it, or swimming in its sea. While these Beirut Roosters rebuild Lebanese houses, the war in Syria destroys their own homes. That war brought together director Ziad Kalthoum, who left the Syrian Army to find refuge in Lebanon, and his fellow compatriots who work in Beirut. In this city, they share feelings of being alienated, unwanted and negated by Lebanese society. At night, they move into a hole underneath the construction site: their new home. Down here, the memories of home, war and what they have left behind plague them. Together, they share the pain and fear of losing their home country while finding themselves unable to construct a life for themselves.

Link to the festival’s announcement here