Beirut lies in ruins. After the explosion in the city’s port, collective trauma rises to the surface. How can life go on after such a tragedy? We carefully observe the subsequent three years and zoom in on the lives of Aya, a Syrian refugee girl; Selim, an activist and painter; the Aladdin family, who are mourning a tragic loss; Yasmin, who picks up calls at a suicide prevention hotline; and Andrea, who still believes in the city’s spark for change. Meanwhile, a smouldering fire keeps on lingering in the port’s silos like a cautionary tale. Is it time to leave?

This is the premise of Nicola von Leffern and Jakob Carl Sauer’s To Close Your Eyes and See Fire [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], a documentary set to world-premiere at this year’s Zurich Film Festival (3-13 October).

To Close Your Eyes and See Fire is being staged by Sauer and von Leffern, along with Peter Drössler, Arash T Riahi and Sabine Gruber for Austria’s Golden Girls Filmproduktion. The feature was supported by ORF Film/Fernseh-Abkommen, the Federal Ministry for Arts And Culture (BMKÖS), the City of Vienna’s Cultural Department MA7 and the Screenwriters Forum Vienna/Scriptlab. Taskovski Film is in charge of the pic’s world sales.

Check out our exclusive teaser and poster (© Jonas Zieher) below:

(© Jonas Zieher)