Just Like a Dream
Spring Grants 2024 - Development Stage
Corine Shawi / Feature Documentary / Lebanon, Qatar / 75 min / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Social Issues, Psychological, 3D Animation, Creative Documentary, Feature Documentary
Synopsis
On 4 August 2020, Beirut was shattered by one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, claiming over 230 lives and injuring thousands. In an instant, the city was reduced to rubble, and the survivors were left to process a trauma too immense to understand. Dreams became a refuge and a battleground for their minds; premonitions brought a sense of danger; survivors recounted each action and minute of that tragic day. How does one recover from such destruction?
Nearly five years on, Najwa’s daughter remains clinically dead; Mirna hasn’t coped with the loss of her eye; Alex, a 17-year-old, is thrust into his first war in 2024; and Mireille’s grief over the loss of her son has destroyed her sense of Self. Yet, they have no other choice but to continue surviving. Alongside them, the dreams, premonitions, and miracles of Haifa, Youssef, Josiane, Leslie and Ara explore how the explosion has penetrated Lebanon’s collective psyche, leaving lingering emotional scars. Through their stories emerges the portrait of a shattered nation, forever caught between one disaster and the next.
Credits
- Director
- Corine Shawi
- Screenwriter
- Corine Shawi
- Producer
- Nancy Sabbagh
- Production Company
- The Attic
About the Director
Corine Shawi is a Lebanese filmmaker whose journey began at age 14 when she started filming her first feature documentary, 'Les Femmes Bonnes'. Her films reflect her fascination with unique human connections and psychological dimensions, among them 'Oxygen' (2007), 'Affinity' (2007), and 'Film of Welcome and Farewells' (2009), which premiered at the opening of Écrans du Réel festival in Lebanon. 'I Love You Forever' (2010) made its debut at CPH:DOX, while her feature 'E muet' (2013) premiered at FID Marseille's International Competition. Her latest documentary, 'Perhaps What I Fear Does Not Exist' (2022), chronicles a four-year journey seeking absolution for a broken family while helping her father walk again. The film premiered at Dok Leipzig international competition and won Best Documentary at the Cinema Columbus Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at Fidadoc. Beyond filmmaking, Shawi teaches at Saint Joseph University in Beirut and has co-created TAABIR Film Expression Workshops, conducted across Lebanon since 2022.