CPH:DOX 2026 - Dream of Another Summer

The morning mist envelops the empty streets of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. A few cars roll along the greyish roads. A woman's voice can be heard on a recorded telephone message. She explains to another woman, Alicia, how to water the flowers and how one of the windows has not yet been fixed after the explosion at the port in August 2020. 

Alicia is Spanish, but was living in Beirut when the explosion happened. Now she has returned to understand the aftermath of the explosion, including its impact on herself. We understand that the trip was an impulsive decision, but also that she has left something behind in Spain. 

'Dream of Another Summer' unfolds like an afternoon dream told through almost photographic images, voice messages and chance encounters. Irene Bartolomé's debut film views buildings with a slight melancholy as complex beings with memories of what has happened around them. For even ruins in danger of collapsing may in the future become important traces of today's civilisation.