Kash Kash

Director Lea Najjar’s hometown of Beirut is a place marked by conflicting traditions, a corrupt political elite, protests against the government and the aftermath of a disastrous explosion in 2020. But above the rooftops, the city’s residents have an unexpected way of connecting in the form of an age-old game of chance involving pigeons known as “kash hamam”. Every evening, the players release their flocks of pigeons from their cages and allow them to fly above the labyrinth of streets and circle over the houses, hoping to attract birds from neighbours’ flocks. If they succeed in luring a neighbour’s pigeon to land on their own roof, this enlarges the player’s own flock and is called a “kash”.
Taking its cue from the rhythm of the beating of wings, this sensitive debut documentary observes a city in upheaval. It is told from the perspective of three passionate pigeon fanciers and a young girl struggling to one day let her own birds fly.