Synopsis:
“Cilama” is how people referred to Cinema in the popular dialect in Tripoli. It was the beating heart of the city between the thirties and the closing years of the 20th century. The number of cinemas exceeded thirty and were spread throughout the city from Al-Tal Square to the boulevard, the inner neighborhoods, Bab al-Tabbaneh, and all the way to Al-Mina. The cinemas became citizens of the city: Empire, Roxy, Dunia, Opera, Al-Hamra, Rivoli, Palace, Metropole, Le Capitole, Colorado, as well as Lido, Al-Sharq, Al-Qahera, Al-Ahram and Piccadilly, in addition to Al-Alam, Hollywood, Cleopatra, Radio, Salwa, Rabha and Victoria… Through a research spanning several years, the film attempts to reconstruct the biography of “Cilama”, its temples, rites, and stories of love and wars in a suspended time. One thousand images and forty voices reconstitute the collective memory of an Arab city.