Danielle F. Davie

A Beirut rooftop conversation about living with Sexually Transmitted Infections opens into a cinematic dialogue, as Danielle and Moe draw raw and vibrant images from their personal experiences. Danielle filmed herself in sober and melancholic images to grasp what is going on, while Moe plays with memories and sensations of a queer body “invaded” by a virus. While they engage with five actresses and actors to embody the testimonies of individuals who also lived with STIs, “forbidden” stories begin to exist and enter a collaborative exploration of intimacy, bodies, stigma and shame.

Four filmmakers and videographers were invited by the Beirut Art Center (BAC) to make a short narrative film using only recordings from the 6 security cameras set up in the BAC’s space. During the preparations for these commissions, a heavier reference imposed itself onto the visual imaginaries tied to the CCTV footage, and that is the anticipation of the disaster that rushed into the intimacy of our lives and demolished our shelters.