From the Other Shore

Sylvana lives in Lebanon, Mohammed in New York, but when they are together, they like to go for walks. Sylvana is in a wheelchair and Mohammed is blind, so she guides the way as he pushes. They talk about the constant lack of autonomy they experience in daily life, and how the obstacles they face are not only physical but above all societal. When Sylvana was a child, other children were forbidden to play with her for fear that her disability was contagious. Although highly educated, Mohammed was unemployed for two years as a result of discrimination.

In separate interviews the two talk about their childhood, which they spent in institutions, and their current position in society. Filmmaker Maher Abi Samra followed their meetings over the course of a year, from a visit to a museum in Beirut, where they learn about standards of beauty among the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians and the desire for aesthetic perfection, to a stroll in Paris. Over tea, they talk about their endless, draining struggle for equal treatment. Is it your disability that holds you back, or the barriers raised by society?