Beirut and Sarajevo have lived through parallel experiences in their postwar periods. ‘Beirut of the Balkans’ imagines and tries to understand Beirut by filming Sarajevo.
Sarajevo has gone through historical stages that parallel those of Beirut: the old town, the hell city, the ghost town and the new city. This film highlights the similar phases the two cities have lived through before and during the Lebanese Civil War and the Bosnian War, via the citizens of Sarajevo and the Lebanese people who live there, in order to underline the current relationship between the citizens and their new city rebuilt. Like Beirut, Sarajevo after the war is a city that has started from zero, not only in its material and visual appearance, but also in restoring its relationship with its population, who now have a new vision of their city.