Filmmaker Nadine Labaki wowed audiences at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with her incredible drama “Capernaum.” In a festival filled with incredible films, Labaki’s ended up winning the Jury Prize at the prestigious event and was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics for distribution. Now, almost half a year after it’s original premiere, audiences will be lucky enough to see “Capernaum” on the big screen.
Labaki’s film tells the story of a Lebanese boy that sues his parents for the “crime” of giving him life. Zain ends up fleeing his parents and attempts to use his wits to survive on the streets, where he meets an Ethiopian refugee and her young son. What stands out about “Capernaum” is how Labaki used a cast of non-professional actors to play parts that felt very close to their own real-life experiences, allowing for moments of improvisation that ended up creating a realism that is startling.
And as you can see in the latest, incredibly emotional trailer, the realism pays off as the characters are able to emote using very little words. Plus, you get a glimpse at the beautiful camera work on display in a film that firmly puts Labaki as one of the best filmmakers working today.
“Capernaum” stars Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawthar Al Haddad, Fadi Kamel Youssef, Cedra Izam, Alaa Chouchnieh, Elias Khoury, and Labaki herself.
“Capernaum” will hit select theaters on December 14.
Here’s the (lengthy) synopsis:
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Nadine Labaki’s CAPERNAUM (“Chaos”) tells the story of Zain (Zain al Rafeea), a Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the “crime” of giving him life. CAPERNAUM follows Zain, a gutsy streetwise child as he flees his negligent parents, survives through his wits on the streets, takes care of Ethiopian refugee Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) and her baby son, Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole), being jailed for a crime, and finally, seeks justice in a courtroom. CAPERNAUM was made with a cast of non-professionals playing characters whose lives closely parallel their own. Following her script, Labaki placed her performers in scenes and asked them to react spontaneously with their own words and gestures. When the non-actors’s instincts diverged from the written script, Labaki adapted the screenplay to follow them. While steeped in the quiet routines of ordinary people, CAPERNAUM is a film with an expansive palette: without warning it can ignite with emotional intensity, surprise with unexpected tenderness, and inspire with flashes of poetic imagery. Although it is set in the depths of a society’s systematic inhumanity, CAPERNAUM is ultimately a hopeful film that stirs the heart as deeply as it cries out for action.