Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, Capharnaüm is an unforgettable, all-consuming heartbreaker told from the streets of Beirut. Using a cast of non-professional actors, director Nadine Labiki follows the story of Zain (Zain al Rafeea), a 12-year-old Lebanese boy who sues his negligent parents for the “crime” of giving him life. Streetwise and self-sufficient, Zain relies on his wits to survive, befriending an Ethiopian refugee (Yordanos Shiferaw) and her son, trying to evade arrest and, finally, coming to terms with his parents’ absence. Steeped in the tender familiarity of ordinary people, this film stirs the heart as it calls for action.
“It’s a fairy tale and an opera, a potboiler and a news bulletin, a howl of protest and an anthem of resistance” — The New York Times
Arabic
English
Lebanon