The Sound of Footsteps on the Pavement (2004)

Overview

Since 1969, the Modca Café on Hamra Street has been synonymous with Beirut. Now, after more than thirty years, it is being demolished. In the young people fighting helplessly to preserve this embodiment of the city’s memory, we see a longing for and a vicarious experience of ‘social activism’. The camera attempts to resist traditional video activism as it accompanies these young people. Moving into the fluorescent light of the newly built mass retailer, the identity of the city is superimposed onto the fate of the café. A bold documentary essay that attempts to awaken various collective memories.