Synopsis
In Beirut, Syrian construction workers are building a skyscraper while at the same time their own houses at home are being shelled. The Lebanese war is over but the Syrian one still rages on. The workers are locked in the building site. They are not allowed to leave it after 7p.m. The Lebanese government has imposed night-time curfews on the refugees. The only contact with the outside world for these Syrian workers is the hole through which they climb out in the morning to begin a new day of work. Cut off from their homeland, they gather at night around a small TV set to get the news from Syria. Tormented by anguish and anxiety, while suffering the deprivation of the most basic human and workers right, they keep hoping for a different life.
A word from Tënk
Working with an impressive aesthetic, poetic and political force, particularly through clever sound design, Ziad Kalthoum creates an association and superposition of destruction and (re)construction, at times reaching a bit, but always with intelligence and innovation. In so doing, Kalthoum highlights how history repeats itself in a spiral of inequality that no force seems able to stop.
This work, littered with audacious visual compositions and humanizing wide shots, tells the story of Syrian refugee workers and emphasizes the distance separating them from Beirut, a city that they nonetheless helped build while their homeland seems to have been transformed into inhabitable and murderous ruins. Taste of Cement observes the unenviable living conditions of these refugees, reminding us that private property thrives on inequality, often with total disregard for the common good.
Hubert Sabino-Brunette
Teacher and programmer
