![‘A Sad And Beautiful World’ Trailer: Cyril Aris’ Venice Audience Award Winner Opens In July [Exclusive]](https://cdn.theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/16151244/Lebanese-romance-A-Sad-and-Beautiful-World-.jpg "‘A Sad And Beautiful World’ Trailer: Cyril Aris’ Venice Audience Award Winner Opens In July [Exclusive]")
Love, survival, and the impossible question of whether to stay or leave a country in crisis sit at the center of “A Sad and Beautiful World,” the new film from Cyril Aris. After a festival run that began in Venice, where it won the Giornate Degli Autori Audience Award, Watermelon Pictures will release the film theatrically in New York and Los Angeles this July, followed by a national rollout.
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Written and directed by Aris, with Bane Fakih co-writing, “A Sad and Beautiful World” stars Mounia Akl and Hasan Askil as childhood friends whose lives become intertwined across three decades of friendship, love, heartbreak, and the turbulent history of Lebanon.
The film follows Nino, an eternal optimist, and Yasmina, an impulsive pragmatist, as their magnetic relationship evolves into romance and partnership. But as they struggle with the universal choices of adult life, they are also forced to navigate the extraordinary circumstances of a country repeatedly ravaged by war. Together, they must decide whether to build a family and find happiness in Lebanon, despite the tragedies surrounding them, or to pursue reinvention elsewhere.
The subject matter, sadly, could not be more timely. “A Sad and Beautiful World” explores love and parenthood against a backdrop of instability, asking what it means to imagine a future in which the world around you keeps collapsing.
“Amid Lebanon’s perpetual crises, I witnessed how humor and love became our shields against darkness,” Aris said in a director’s statement. “This film embraces that unique sense of Lebanese humor while exploring deeper themes of parenthood and legacy.” He added that making the film during another major war in Lebanon sharpened his belief that “in the face of chaos, it is our love for one another that carries us forward.”
Behind the camera, the film features an impressive creative team, including editor Nat Sanders, whose credits include “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” cinematographer Joe Saade of “Joyland” and “Costa Brava, Lebanon,” production designer Hanady Medlej, and costume designer Zeina Saab Demelero of “Capernaum.”
“A Sad and Beautiful World” premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where it won the Giornate Degli Autori Audience Award, and went on to screen at the BFI London Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, São Paulo Film Festival, Red Sea Film Festival, and Marrakech International Film Festival, among others. It was also Lebanon’s entry for the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category.
“A Sad and Beautiful World” opens July 24 in New York at Quad Cinema; July 31 in Los Angeles at Laemmle Royal, Santa Barbara at SBIFF Film Center, and Chicago at Uprising Theater; August 7 in Eugene, Oregon, at Darkside Cinema; with additional markets to follow. Watch the exclusive trailer below.
![‘A Sad And Beautiful World’ Trailer: Cyril Aris’ Venice Audience Award Winner Opens In July [Exclusive]](https://cdn.theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/16151246/Sad_Beautiful_World_1sht_LO-692x1024.jpg)
