Rounds

  • Story line
    Rounds (Barmeh) is a video featuring Rabih Mroué, who appears as a strangely familiar driver, filmed steering through the streets of the city. Beirut is mentioned, evoked through the driver’s stories and through sound, but never seen. Invisible in overexposed whiteness, Beirut escapes definition. However, its presence is confirmed through the ongoing discourse. Like his driving, Mroué’s stories spin in a circle. He seems a ghost, inseparable from his car, haunting the streets of a city where a reconstruction project is in progress.

    Underlying these thoughts about the car and the road system is also a reflection on the modernisation project undertaken in that strange postwar period.
  • CAST and crew
    Original titleBarme
    English titleRounds
    Production CompanyEspace Francophone
    Co productionFuture Television (Lebanon) and France 3 (France) for Espace Francophone.
    Date of productionDecember 2001
    Running time7 min 30
    Original formatDV Cam
    LanguageArabic
    SubtitlesEnglish or French
    DirectorsJoana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige
    ActorRabih Mroué
    ScriptJoana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige & Rabih Mroué
    PhotographyAhmad al Jardali & Khalil Joreige
    EditingNada Abdallah

  • Other video works