North American Premiere

Sarah Francis’s feature debut heralds a thrilling new species of the city symphony. A large glass vehicle passes through present-day Beirut, feeling the city’s rhythms subtly change in different weathers and different times of day. At regular intervals, current residents of the city hop in and open up to the camera in scenes that resemble gushier, more confessional variations on the cable-car rides in last year’s notable documentary Manakamana. An utterly novel reflection on modernity and urban life, Birds of September is an empathetic, disciplined attempt to capture the mood of a city—one block, and one person, at a time.