Beirut Blend

“Blend” is the cut of a type of tobacco that glistens at six places in Beirut under the glowing stone of the water pipe at the film’s center. “Blend” also means “mingling,” to “mix,” resulting in a “mélange.” And this is precisely what happens within thirty minutes of low-key black-and-white compositions in which the portrayed ones talk about the need for daily sports and also about Gaddafi’s fortune, Arab spring, the Middle-East conflict, and gender relations in supposedly post-modern societies. An outspoken homage to Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes, Beirut Blend is, beyond the ritual and quotable elements, quite simply just a documentation of contemporary history - of things, opinions, moments, and a very special manner of proclaiming through the medium of the shisha.