"Waiting for the Barbarians" is a unique poetic and cinematic work. The nocturnal, panoramic view of the city of Beirut shifts between the stillness of photography and the movement of animated images, through a hypnotic process of superimposing images and layering exposure times. Carried along by this passage of time and this dilution of geographical identity, a voice reciting the eponymous text by Greek poet Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933) blends in with the rhythm of the images.