Two young girls of the war generation, Yasmin and Leila, are in search of Beirut. When they meet an elderly film enthusiast with a secret store of Lebanese films, they persuade him to screen his collection for them. So begins an initiation into the myths and images of Beirut, but the girls want cold figures and facts, war babies indifferent to the memories evoked.

Once Upon a Time in Beirut

Lebanese director Randa Chahal Sabbag spins this bleak war drama about the brutal absurdity of the urban warfare of Beirut during the 1980s. Opening with the shocking image of kittens being blown apart, the film loosely follows the travails of Bernadette (Nada Ghosn), a naïve country girl sent to the city as a maid for a mansion long since abandoned by the owners. There she meets Therese (Renee Dick), a veteran house cleaner who takes her under her wing. One day, while accompanying her friend to the cemetery, she meets a rakish Arab militiaman, and the two fall in love.

A Civilized People

Over forty and in a bit of a midlife crisis, Tunisian film director Raouf is prone to excessive drinking when not engaged in an argument with his French-born wife Lou (Marianne Basler). One respite to Raouf's dreary life is a recent film assignment -- to shoot an autobiographical film about his childhood. While working on the script, Raouf recalls his childhood home life under the strictures instituted by his devoutly religious father. The polar opposite of Raouf's father was his uncle Mansour, a jolly, life-loving soul who introduced Raouf to cinema through his work as a wandering film projectionist, which angered and shocked his father to no end but proved to be the most pivotal development in the youngster's life. Through cinema, Raouf found his place in this world and came-of-age -- something he may have to revisit in his adult life if he wishes to salvage his marriage.