Cynthia Sawma

After running away from his negligent parents, committing a violent crime and being sentenced to five years in jail, a hardened, streetwise 12-year-old Lebanese boy sues his parents in protest of the life they have given him.

Maia, a single mother, lives in Montreal with her teenage daughter, Alex. On Christmas Eve, they receive an unexpected delivery: notebooks, tapes, and photos Maia, from 13 to 18 years old, sent from Beirut to her best friend who left for Paris to escape the civil war. Maia refuses to open the box or confront its memories, but Alex secretly begins diving into it. Between fantasy and reality, Alex enters the world of her mother’s tumultuous, passionate adolescence during the Lebanese civil war, unlocking mysteries of a hidden past.

In 2023 Lebanon, Aida and her husband struggle to make ends meet after he has loses his job as a private chauffeur. In addition to frequent electricity cuts and her growing boredom as a housewife whose kids have left the nest, Aida can now no longer pay the bills. Through a fortuitous turn of events, she intersects with Saydeh, who works as a film extra and helps enroll Aida in a background casting agency called Paradise. This, in turn, leads Aida to bond with new girlfriends and push back on her increasingly grumpy husband as she redefines the limits Beirut society had set for her.

An interactive VR documentary immersing viewers in the lives and dreams of three Lebanese youths - Rafik, Josephine, and Batoul - as they navigate life in their challenging yet beloved homeland.