Notizie

Netflix's psychological thriller The Sand Castleis much more than the average deserted-island survival story. Akin to past entries within the subgenre like Lost and Sweatheart, the film does include its typical plotlines, like having characters withstand harsh elements, attempt different methods of escape, and encounter eerie happenings. However, the streaming service's Lebanese drama differs in its focus — using these tropes as a backdrop to explore the mind at war.

Directed by Matty Brown, known for short films like The Distraction, The Sand Castle follows a fractured family of four trying to survive alone on a remote island somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. Luckily, they have a working lighthouse to take refuge in and attract rescue. However, as the days pass without any word from the outside world, their survival becomes uncertain, tensions rise, and the once idyllic sanctuary gradually reveals a shocking reality.

Additionally, throughout the film, the truth...

The Sand Castle, a Lebanese family drama, is currently climbing up the Netflix streaming chart after releasing on the platform earlier this month. The film follows a family stranded on an island, attempting to survive the dangerous landscape and the deterioration of the mind that comes with it. Featuring a talent cast and crew, The Sand Castle quietly made its debut last week, but it has rather quickly swept up audiences with a visually-inspired drama that is as thrilling as it is emotional.

As of this writing, The Sand Castle reached as high as the #2 spot on Netflix's most watched movies during the past few days (via Flix Patrol). It's unclear if it will hold that spot for an extended period of time, or climb even higher, but it seems subscribers are readily flocking to the survival picture. Focused on a family of four stranded on a deserted island, a...

Director Matty Brown’s psychological drama, The Sand Castle, offers a harrowing look at the crude reality of armed conflicts around the world—how the greed of warmongers affects the lives of generations to come—leaving children rootless and without identity. The poignant tone of the movie is amplified by the choice of narrative treatment, as the beautiful, imaginative perspective of a child guides viewers through the story, the horrors of reality continue to reveal themselves through occasional cracks in the imagination, until the final moments of the movie bring out the agonizing truth. The four members of the family, and their actions, are presented through an intermingling of layers of reality and imagination. It was a daunting task to pull off, given the unique demands of the script. Additionally, there are subtle allusions to real-world events, which the actors needed to convey without committing to anything specific. Thankfully, the...

Netflix’s The Sand Castle follows the perspective of a young girl named Jana (Riman Al Rafeea) stuck on an isolated island with her family. The family of four was likely shipwrecked after a devastating incident at sea, and through a radio in their possession, they have been trying to contact anyone who can pick up the signal. From the very beginning, the film used its characters to point out that the island wasn’t real and the family was surrounded by water on all sides. Their lifeboat was slowly sinking in the face of the rising waves around them, and they had no way to survive the odds unless someone spotted them in the vastness of the ocean.

Spoiler Alert

So, yes, the island and the lighthouse weren’t real at all, and they were just a figment of Jana’s imagination, which she used to create a favorable...

The movie “The Sand Castle,” directed by Matty Brown, is a 2024 thriller and mystery drama set in Lebanon. The film follows a family of four who find themselves trapped on an idyllic island that harbors a shocking reality. The screenplay, crafted by Matty Brown, Hend Fakhroo, and Yassmina Karajah, delves into themes of family relationships and survival. The cast features notable actors such as Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, and Zain Al Rafeea, with music composed by West Thordson and Kat Vokes. Cinematography by Jeremy Snell enhances the film’s atmospheric tension. Produced as a co-production between Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, the movie is distributed by Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Netflix.

“The Sand Castle,” is available from this Friday on Netflix

Where to Watch “The Sand Castle”

Netflix...

U.S. director Matty Brown’s allegorical drama “The Sand Castle,” which sees Lebanese multi-hyphenate Nadine Labaki reunite on screen with young “Capernaum” siblings Zain and Reman Al Rafeea – who are both Syrian refugees – will be released globally on Jan. 24 by Netflix at a critical time in the Middle East.

With Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks currently underway and uncertainties still looming for Syrian refugees after the fall of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad, the fable-like film, which is told from the perspective of children, “has many interesting parallels with what’s happening not only on Syria but also in Palestine,” says New York-based producer Mandy Ward. Ward is part of the “Sand Castle” production team alongside Houston King and Dubai-based Gianluca Chakra’s Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Mario Jr. Haddad’s Empire Entertainment.

“I think that this film was always told from a place of people who felt like they didn’t belong somewhere,...

Short Film Review: WAShhh (2024) by Mickie Lai

Lee Kah Giap’s black-and-white cinematography works quite well here, adding in a way, to the tension that is instigated by both the story and Wong Kai Yun’s sharp editing, in a film that scores quite high on production values overall. “WAShhh” is a great film, that manages to communicate a series of comments and a very entertaining story/event in just over 20 minutes. What becomes evident, is that Lai is more than ready to shoot a feature, perhaps even with the same theme.

Video Interviews: Mowaffaq Alobaid Short Film Review: Saint Rose (2024) by Zayn Alexandre

The cinematography is rather polished, in a way that mirrors the spotlessness of the house, making the aforementioned comment more intense, with the tension, however, coming more from the acting and the sound than the visuals. The editing results in a fast tempo that allows the...

“The Sand Castle” is made up of intentionally simple elements: an abandoned island, a creaky old lighthouse, an intermittently working radio. And at its center is a family of four: a doting mother, a resourceful father, a moody teen son and a daydreaming daughter. Their survival depends on the increasingly Sisyphean task of waiting and scavenging, hoping and praying. Help, they hope, will soon come their way. But what at first feels like a modern-day “Robinson Crusoe” adventure soon turns into something darker and altogether more timely. While Matty Brown’s dreamy film plays more like a children’s fable than the harrowing thriller it sometimes flirts with becoming, its oblique stab at storytelling ends up muddling its ambitious vision and well-intended message.

Survival stories hinge on the grit and resilience of its characters. Food is scarce and fresh water elusive. Sleep is near impossible and shelter close to untenable.

It has been known for some time, but it turns out that the main way Netflix picks its content is through an algorithm that calculates the popularity value of the cast among other things. As such, having “Capernaum”’s Nadine Labaki and Zain Al Rafeea might be what propelled the streamer to pick “The Sandcastle” for its Middle East program, along with the fact that the theme seems to be about Palestine. It turns out, however, that the algorithm can make mistakes, and that star quality is not always enough. Let us take a closer look though.

The Sandcastle is screening at Red Sea Film Festival

A family of four, Nabil, Yasmine and their children, Adam and Jana, find themselves stranded on an island that looks both picturesque and post-apocalyptic, with the ominous presence of a lighting house playing a crucial role in both actually. The reasons for them being there are not exactly clear,...

Few films deliver a gut punch quite like Capernaum, the 2018 Lebanese film that took the world by storm and snagged the attention of the Academy. Directed by Nadine Labaki, Capernaum revolves around a suffering child who sues his parents for bringing him into the world. Scratch that thats not the whole story. It's a film about the struggles of a stateless refugee child who is angry at the world he lives in, yet determined to survive no matter what. The story follows Zain (played by Zain Al Rafeea), an unregistered child aged about twelve and living in the slums of Beirut.

Oscar-nominated Mexican sound designer Martin Hernandez has given new details about his latest project, Netflix documentary series The Master Of Monarchs [working title], which will launch on the platform later this year.

The series takes flight with the story of the Monarch butterfly and its journey from Canada to El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve, a nature reserve in Mexico. The keeper of the reserve, environmental activist Homero Gomez, was murdered in 2020. It is believed he was killed because he stood up against organised crime groups.

The Master Of Monarchs will feature interviews with Gomez’s wife and children.

“It’s a great documentary.

The moves comes as the leading Mena distributor ramps up activity.

Dubai-based distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has promoted Nicolas Torloting, Carine Chaiban and Elie Touma to partners as the company increases activity in the region.

The trio joined in early 2019 as part of a revamp of the company, which is one of the leading distributors of independent and genre films in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena). Torloting is Front Row’s COO, with Chaiban heading post-theatrical sales and Touma leading acquisitions and theatrical distribution.

The company, founded by Gianluca Chakra in 2003, handles the release of more than 200 films per year,...

Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region indie distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment is promoting company execs Nicolas Torloting, Carine Chaiban and Elie Touma to partners as it ramps up operations.

The trio joined the company, headed by Gianluca Chakra, in early 2019 as part of an initial revamp. Torloting, a former Disney exec in the region, is currently Front Row’s COO, while Chaiban, who is an acquisitions and distribution expert, heads post-theatrical sales and Touma is in charge of acquisitions and theatrical distribution. The announcement was made during Saudi Arabia’s ongoing Red Sea Film Festival. Front Row recently scored big at the Saudi box office with the wrestling comedy “Sattar,” released by Front Row Arabia via its joint venture with leading local exhibitor Muvi Cinemas.

Amid the region’s rapidly evolving film distribution landscape, Front Row has grown to establish itself as one of the leading players in...

Capernaum Photo: Fares Sokhon

Capernaum, 1.25am, Film4, Tuesday, December 5

The plight of children on the poverty line in Lebanon is put front and centre by Nadine Labaki's neorealist drama about youngster Zain, who runs away from home after his parents sell his sister. The story unfolds in two strands - one showing him scraping by on the street and the other in the confines of a courtroom where he is suing his parents for neglect. Although Labaki leans into the melodrama a little heavily in places, this is nevertheless a deeply affecting film that grips at a visceral level. Al Rafeea is now resettled in Norway, something Labaki told us about.

The Wicker Man, 10pm, BBC4, Tuesday, December 6

Fifty years to the week from...

Some MCU movies could have been improved as TV shows, allowing for more time to develop characters and storylines. Projects like WandaVision and Loki have shown that MCU TV shows can thrive with the right teams behind them. Movies like Eternals, Black Widow, Iron Man 2, and Thor: The Dark World could have benefited from the TV series format to enhance their storytelling and character development.

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies have mostly thrived, some of them could have been made better or even more exciting had they been developed as TV shows instead. Throughout the long timeline of the MCU, there have been 32 movies — with The Marvels' upcoming release set to make that 33 — and for different factors, some of them did not work as well as intended, or rather were great but could have reached their full potential if they had a longer time to flesh out characters and stories.

Lebanese actress and director Nadine Labaki enjoyed breakout success with Oscar-nominated and Cannes Jury Prize-winning third feature Capernaum in 2018 and there is now anticipation over what will be her next directorial feature project

However, the star, who is currently at the Marrakech International Film Festival as a member of its jury, told Deadline this week that it could be a while before she gets behind the camera.

“I have to start writing the next feature film. There’s nothing tangible I can talk about yet,” she said.

The weight of Lebanon’s political and economic crisis since 2019, which was exacerbated by the pandemic, and the deadly and devastating August 2020 Beirut explosion had made it difficult for her to focus on a personal project, she said.

“It has been a very difficult three years. We’ve all been sort of living like zombies. We’re alive but not really and it...

A new poster for Eternals has been released by Marvel Studios. Along with the first Eternals trailer for the upcoming movie, the poster gives us a peek at the titular team of immortal superheroes. In the movie, the Eternals emerge after thousands of years in hiding to keep the planet safe from their evil counterparts, the Deviants. You can take a look at the poster below.

Featuring a diverse ensemble cast, Eternals stars Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Kit Harington as Dane Whitman/Black Knight, Salma Hayek as Ajak, and Angelina Jolie as Thena. Also starring are Haaz Sleiman, Ozer Ercan, Zain Al Rafeea, Jashaun St. John, and Harish Patel.

Chan's name at the top of the poster is in line with...

Marvel Studios has released the first teaser trailer for Eternals. Directed by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao and written by Kaz Firpo and Ryan Firpo, the superhero movie will see the immortal team reunite after thousands of years in hiding to protect humanity from their evil counterparts known as the Deviants. Eternals is set to be released in theaters in November, but for now, you can catch a peek at what's to come by watching the new teaser below.

Eternals stars a diverse ensemble cast including Angelina Jolie as Thena, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Kit Harington as Dane Whitman/Black Knight, Gemma Chan as Sersi, and Barry Keoghan as Druig. Haaz Sleiman, Ozer Ercan, Zain Al Rafeea, Jashaun St. John, and Harish Patel also star.

"The...

Capernaum Capernaum, 11.40pm Monday Film4

The plight of children on the poverty line in Lebanon is put front and centre by Nadine Labaki's neorealist drama about youngster Zain, who runs away from home after his parents sell his sister. The story unfolds in two strands - one showing him scraping by on the street and the other in the confines of a courtroom where he is suing his parents for neglect. Although Labaki leans into the melodrama a little heavily in places, this is nevertheless a deeply affecting film that grips at a visceral level. Al Rafeea is now resettled in Norway, something Labaki told us about. Read our full review.

Tyrannosaur, Thursday, 1.25am Film4

Peter Mullan has carved out a career of strong...

Gemma Chan's Sersi stands out as the lead in Eternals, the upcoming superhero movie coming this winter from Marvel Studios, according to Marvel head Kevin Feige. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), the movie features an ensemble cast of a variety of characters. It is scheduled to be released in November as a part of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Speaking about the movie in a new interview with Variety, Feige addressed some of the changes in the story during the transition of Eternals from the comic books to the big screen. Along with this came changing some major aspects of certain characters. As Kevin Feige explains, this was a part of the plan from the start with executive producer Nate Moore in particular really pushing for these changes.

"Well, the notion of switching up the genders, sexualities and ethnicities of the characters from the comics,...

A call was made for more filmmakers in the Arab world to spotlight attention on the plight of child refugees and domestic violence at the fourth edition of the El Gouna Film Festival Sunday.

“We need artists and filmmakers to spotlight violence against women and children,” said Noura Selim, executive director at the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development on the panel “Children Matter” organized by Unhcr and the Sawiris Foundation. The billionaire Sawiris Brothers, Naguib and Samih Sawiris, founded the El Gouna Film Festival in 2017.

Speaking on the panel alongside Selim were Karim Atassi, Unhcr’s representative in Egypt, Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, assistant secretary-general of the League of Arab States (Las), and Syrian actress Kinda Alloush. Following the panel, a video interview with Lebanese director Nadine Labaki was broadcast. Labaki’s most recent film, the Oscar-nominated “Capernaum,” starred Syrian refugee child actor Zain Al Rafeea (credited as Zain El Hajj.

Less than two months after Beirut was blasted by one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded, director Nadine Labaki has taken to the streets of the Lebanese capital with her camera.

“I don’t know where it’s going to lead, or if it will ever lead anywhere,” says Labaki, whose latest film, the Oscar-nominated “Capernaum,” shed light on Beirut’s preexisting desperation. But as teams of volunteers clear rubble, feed survivors and try to rebuild — and the country’s “corrupt” government, Labaki points out, does the bare minimum — Lebanon’s most prominent filmmaker isn’t staying idle.

The only positive development since Aug. 4, when 2,750 tons of neglected ammonium nitrate detonated in the city’s port, leaving 190 dead, more than 6,500 injured and roughly 300,000 homeless, is that civil society and volunteers, many of whom are young Lebanese, have been working ceaselessly.

The fact that a network of unpaid workers “got...

To mark the release of Capernaum on 29th July, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on DVD.

In a courtroom, a young boy named Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) stands before a judge. He asks to sue his own parents for giving him life. The circumstances that have brought him to this point take us on a journey through his poverty-stricken upbringing in Beirut where he lives with his family.

Forced to live by his wits in order to survive, Zain’s life reaches a turning point when his parents make an unforgivable deal that will see his younger sister married off. Left distraught by this terrible act, Zain takes to the road. While looking for work at a fairground, he befriends a young woman who is working illegally as a cleaner and helps to look after her adorable one-year-old baby, Jonas. Zain and Jonas form a touching bond...

Capernaum, which roughly means chaos, is much more than a reductionist's vision of the vulnerability of children in a world of extreme poverty.

We have seen films about impoverished children right from Salaam Bombay to Slumdog Millionaire?to Liono?and a pack of Iranian films to boot. But this one, on the emotional quotient is very intense and almost unbearable to witness as it surpasses any other film seen earlier.

Narrated in a non-linear format and designed as a documentary, the director uses the courtroom trial as the framing device where a singularly focused, self-possessed Zain (Zain Al Rafeea), faces off for a crime he did and later sues his parents (Kawsar Al Haddad and Fadi Kamel Yousef) for neglect, abuse and for the crime of bringing him into this terrible world.

"I'm living in hell," that's how he describes his life to the judge.

Zain, a child close to adolescence,...

Both titles premiered at Cannes 2018.

Egyptian director A. B. Shawky’s road movie Yomeddine, about a leper who travels across Egypt in a bid to reconnect with his long-lost family, has scooped best film at the Arab cinema Critics Awards.

The film won the François Chalais Award and went onto tour a slew of festivals, winning the top prize in Tunisia’s Carthage Film Festival, following its premiere in Competition in Cannes last year.

Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki won best director for her 2018 Cannes jury prize winner Capernaum, about the plight of a young refugee boy living in the slums of Beirut.

’Capernaum’ crosses $50m at intenational box office

Pokémon Detective Pikachu became the new international box office champion at the weekend as Sunday estimates showed it earned $103m compared to a $102.3m haul by Avengers: Endgame.

The films swapped places in the global box office rankings and were still very close. Endgame brought in a further $165.4m for $2.486bn, compared to Detective Pikachu’s $161m opening salvo. It also crossed $100m in the UK.

Meanwhile, Nadine Labaki’s Lebanese drama and Cannes 2018 Grand Jury Prize winner Capernaum crossed $50m through Wild Bunch licensees.

Warner Bros Pictures International

Detective Pikachu opened day-and-date with North America in 62 markets,...

Nadine Labaki and A.B. Shawky’s films gained three nods each.

Two 2018 Cannes Palme d’Or contenders top the third edition of the Annual Critics Awards organised by the Arab Cinema Centre (Acc).

Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum and Egyptian director A. B. Shawky’s Yomeddine have both clinched three nominations.

Following with two nominations each are Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan’s drama The Reports On Sarah And Saleem, about the ill-fated affair between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, and Moroccan director Meryem Benm’Barek’s Sofia, revolving around a woman in Casablanca who illegally gives birth out of wedlock.

There were a lot of film innovators in 2018, in front of and behind the camera. That long list includes first-time actors such as Henry Golding (“Crazy Rich Asians”), Yalitza Aparicio (“Roma”), and the ensemble in the Chloe Zhao-directed “The Rider.” There were also many first-time filmmakers, including Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You”), Aneesh Chaganty (“Searching”) and Lukas Dhont (“Girl”).

The list of groundbreakers also includes Bo Burnham (A24’s “Eighth Grade”) and Nadine Labaki (Sony Classics’ Oscar-nominated “Capernaum”). He’s an innovator because he transferred from standup performer to filmmaker; she took her directing talent a new direction, shaping the script with her first-time actors, shooting chronologically.

Burnham started as a YouTube sensation at age 16. A dozen years later, he won the DGA award for best first film, and “Eighth Grade” is nominated for four Indie Spirit Awards.

“I wasn’t one of those kids who ran around with the family camera,...

Zain Al Rafeea as Zain. Photo by Christopher Aoun, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

The title of Lebanese drama Capernaum can be translated as “chaos,” a word that describes the life of young boy named Zain struggling to live on the bottom of society in modern Lebanon Zain (Zain Al Rafea), who is perhaps 12-years-old, is a penniless boy being held in a Lebanese jail for attacking a man but we first meet him in court for another reason: he is suing his parents for having been born. We are uncertain about Zain’s age, because he is uncertain about his age. Among his complaints about his self-centered parents is that they did not bother to register his birth, which means he has no birth certificate, no papers, and therefore does not officially exist. As a non-person, he is not entitled to even the most basic of social services, no matter how poor he is.

by Nathaniel R

Nadine Labaki is three-for-three. Lebanon's most prominent filmmaker has seen all three of her films premiere at Cannes to considerable acclaim and go on to represent her country as Oscar submissions. The first two Caramel (2007) and Where Do We Go Now? (2011) became international arthouse hits. Her newest feature Capernaum, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, recently began its platform release in the Us and will hopefully see the same warm reception. It's her best shot yet at an Oscar nomination, having made the finals in foreign film. Her Cannes jury prize winner focuses on the refugee crisis in Lebanon by focusing on one Syrian boy named Zain (played by Zain Al Rafeea) who is trying to survive on his own. It's a visceral must-see and should elevate Labaki's already healthy reputation as a world class director.

To my surprise, she isn't sure what she's doing next, admitting that...

Chicago – One of the best films of 2018 is “Capernaum.” The title means “Chaos,” and co-writer/director Nadine Labaki certainly created a form of that action in the crazy quilt journey of the main character of Zain, an undocumented immigrant boy in Lebanon. From a story that takes us from his street survival to a court of law… suing his parents, “Capernaum” is a multi-layered masterpiece.

The film is framed by the trial. Zain, portrayed with amazing purpose by the similarly named Zain Al Rafeea, is a boy who felt that he shouldn’t have been born into his family of poor Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and sues his parents on that basis. His only respite in the family was with his beloved sister Sahar. When she was sold into marriage, Zain ran away, only to end up in the streets. An African woman with a baby took pity on him,...

Dec. 6 felt a bit like déjà-vu for one director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, whose German film “Never Look Away” landed just one of five berths in the Golden Globes foreign-language film category, along with fellow nominees “Shoplifters” (Japan), “Capernaum” (Lebanon), “Girl” (Belgium) and “Roma” (Mexico).

“We’re not even five hours from the announcement, and I’m getting emails and calls from all over the world,” he marvels. “A film can remain invisible without help like this from such a powerful organization. The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. gives it a voice.”

Von Donnersmarck knows what a Globe nomination in that category can mean for good reason: A dozen years ago, his film “The Lives of Others” also earned a Globe nomination, then went on to win the Academy Award for foreign-language film. But such nominations and wins tend to spotlight directors. Actors are relegated to the background — because barring the...

Please welcome new contributor Abe Fried-Tanzer

Two years ago, despite over a dozen submissions since 1978, Lebanon hadn’t had a film nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Now, the small Middle Eastern country is looking at a likely second consecutive nomination. The Insult was a powerful portrait of two adult men divided by hate and behaving like children. Capernaum, equally compelling, spotlights the opposite: a child acting like an adult, seemingly far more capable of understanding the world for what it is than the actual grown-ups in his life.

The sensational description of this film’s plot focuses on its approximately twelve-year-old protagonist Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) suing his parents for giving birth to him. That summary may conjure up courtroom drama, but that’s far from the truth of the film which takes place on merciless streets. Instead, Capernaum provides a layered look at what it means...

To celebrate the Golden Globe nomination for international film for Nadine Labaki’s provocative powerhouse feature ‘Capernaum’, a new UK poster has been released.

The Lebanese drama which received a 15-minute standing ovation following its premiere at Cannes on 17 May 2018, went on to become the Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum tells the story of Zain (Zain al Rafeea), a Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the “crime” of giving him life.

The film 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’ instincts diverged from the written script, Labaki adapted the screenplay to follow them.

The film will see special previews from February 1st and a UK wide release on February 22nd.

For the first of two review round-ups to tackle this week, we’ve got a foreign film threesome to dive into! It’s also a bit of catching up, as two titles have opened already this past weekend. The trio here today happens to be the Lebanese outing Capernaum, the Polish film Cold War, and the Norwegian flick The Quake. These movies each offer something very different, though each do their jobs quite well. All three get the thumbs up from me today, to different degrees, but they’re each quality outings. Tomorrow will be a more mixed, if higher profile, bag, so stay tuned for that. For now though, we can dive into these three foreign titles… Here we go: — Capernaum To make an “issue film” is to proclaim that you have something to say. The danger here is that, sometimes, a movie can come off as preachy. Luckily,...

Capernaum (Capharnaüm) director Nadine Labaki on Zain al Rafeea: "He knows the violence of the streets, he knows abuse, he knows mistreatment." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Nadine Labaki's Capernaum (Capharnaüm), Lebanon's Oscar entry and Cannes Film Festival winner of the Ecumenical and Jury Prize, and the Prix de la Citoyenneté, is executive produced by Susan Rockefeller and Joslyn Barnes (Lucrecia Martel's Zama), Joana Vicente and Jason Kliot, Candice Abela-Mikati (David Robert Mitchell's Under The Silver Lake), Danny Glover and others, with associate producer Anne-Dominique Toussaint.

Nadine Labaki on Yordanos Shifera as Rahil: "She had run away from her employer."

Capernaum, shot by Christopher Aoun, has a great performance from Zain al Rafeea with Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Fadi Youssef, Kawthar al Haddad, Elias Khoury, Joseph Jimbazian, Haita 'Cedra' Izam, and Nadine Labaki as the lawyer for Zain.

Capernaum intercuts between Zain's (Zain al Rafeea) life on the streets and scenes in a courtroom,...

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Nadine Labaki’s third feature film has moved from the Jury Prize at Cannes to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film. While its Us release this month marks a span of seven years since her breakthrough Tiff People’s Choice Award-winning Where Do We Go Now?, the Toronto audience I saw Capernaum with (my review) hadn’t forgotten the magic they were soon to experience again.

Capernaum is an affecting drama with an authentically disarming humor courtesy of newcomer Zain Al Rafeea—a refugee. It tracks the desperation, ingenuity, and anguish he endures in order to survive a life he didn’t ask for—one he’s willing to sue his parents in court for forcing him to live. His journey draws on the complex and harrowing existence too many face today, highlighting the true cost of humanity’s selfishly irredeemable decisions.

In a year of exceptionally fine foreign-language films (Roma, Burning, Cold War, Shoplifters), Capernaum has a way to go to earn a spot in that major league. But the film has an undeniable emotional pull. Leabnese filmmaker Nadine Labaki takes to the slums of Beirut to follow the plight of Zain (Zain Al Rafeea), a 12-year-old boy doing five years in jail for stabbing a so-called “son of a bitch.” Zain has another agenda now: He wants to sue his parents for bringing him into the world in the first place.

Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) is an abrasive, unkempt boy of either 12 or 13 years old. Neither he nor his parents quite know his age for sure. His parents’ neglect is only part of the reason why Zain wants to sue them for bringing him into this world without a care. He hopes to stop them from having any more neglected children like himself or his beloved sister, Sahar (Cedra Izam), who they sold into an early marriage. Yet this is still only the beginning of Zain’s sad story.

Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum” is a brutally honest — sometimes difficult to watch — drama about neglected children. Some, like Zain, are the innocent victims of a bad situation, joining a big family already burdened with an absurdly small income. Others are the victims of circumstance, like when a hardworking, caring Ethiopian migrant, Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw), is arrested for her expired (and forged) paperwork.

Capernaum (Chaos) Sony Pictures Classics Reviewed for Shockya.com by: Harvey Karten Director: Nadine Labaki Screenwriter: Nadine Labaki, Jihad Hojeilly, Michelle Keserwany, in collaboration with Georges Khabbaz and with the participation of Khaled Mouzanar Cast: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawthar Al Haddad Screened at: Sony, NYC, 11/28/18 Opens: December 14, 2018 Next […]

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Nadine Labaki was compelled to make “Capernaum” after witnessing “children on the streets, either children begging, or children working, or children who are deprived of their most basic rights. It’s something that lots of children around the world are struggling with right now, and I think I’m not the only one being moved by it. I just felt a need to express it.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

See ‘Capernaum’ filmmakers tell Oscar voters in NYC about the plight of ‘kids on the street’ in Lebanon: ‘It’s real. It’s difficult’

This Sony Pictures Classics release centers on Zain (Zain Al Rafeea), a 12-year-old Lebanese boy living in extreme poverty with several siblings. When he runs away from home he’s taken in by an Ethiopian refugee (Yordanos Shiferaw) and is forced to care for her infant son (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole) after she’s detained. He...

At the Academy’s Governor’s Ball this past weekend, Nadine Labaki, the director of Lebanon’s Oscar foreign language submission “Capernaum,” said she witnessed her child star Zain Al Rafeea sign his name for what would’ve been one of the first times in his life.

Zain is a Syrian refugee who was living in Lebanon for eight years when Labaki found him. He was 12 at the time of shooting “Capernaum” but then did not know how to read or write. Today, Labaki informs that Zain is safe and resettled with loving parents in Norway. And he finally put his newfound skills to good use when he got to visit Los Angeles and even see the Beverly Hills Hilton.

“He’s seen so much in his life, nothing really impresses him anymore. He’s very tough, a very wise child,” Labaki told Sharon Waxman Monday as part of TheWrap...

The 17th Marrakech International Film Festival (Nov 30 – Dec 08) has set a jury comprising Suspiria star Dakota Johnson, Indian actress Ileana D’Cruz (Barfi!), Lebanese filmmaker and visual artist Joana Hadjithomas (I Want To See), Brit director Lynne Ramsay (We Need To Talk About Kevin), Moroccan director Tala Hadid (House In The Fields), French director Laurent Cantet (The Class), German actor Daniel Brühl (Rush) and Mexican director Michel Franco (April’s Daughter). As previously revealed, director James Gray will serve as jury president.

A total of 80 films will unspool at the festival, with Julian Schnabel’s Van Gogh biopic At Eternity’s Gate among gala screenings and also the festival’s opener. Other galas include Roma, Green Book and Capernaum while special screenings include Wildlife, Her Smell and Birds Of Passage. The official competition, galas and special screenings are listed below.

The festival will also feature tributes to Robert DeNiro, Robin Wright,...

Capernaum Trailer Nadine Labaki‘s Capernaum (2018) movie trailer stars Zain al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawsar Al Haddad, and Fadi Yousef. Capernaum‘s plot 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 [...]

Continue reading: Capernaum (2018) U.S. Movie Trailer: Zain al Rafeea Sues His Parents to Stop Them From Having More Kids...

Audience reactions at the Cannes Film Festival aren’t always the best indicator of a film’s quality — many of the best films have inspired walk-outs — but a 15-minute standing ovation tends to bode pretty well. For “Capernaum,” Nadine Labaki’s Beirut-set drama which just released its first official trailer, that standing ovation catapulted the film to the top of the competition heap, eventually earning it the Jury Prize at the annual summer festival.

The film, according to the official synopsis, “tells the story of Zain (Zain al Rafeea), a Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the ‘crime’ of giving him life. A gutsy streetwise child as he flees his negligent parents, [Zain] 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.”

Labaki used...

Nadine Labaki made “Capernaum,” her arresting new drama about a young boy who sues his parents for giving birth to him, after observing the soul-crushing poverty around her in Beirut. She wondered what happened to the children she saw begging on the streets or working dead end jobs as delivery boys or assistants in mechanic shops. Many, she suspected, were refugees, fleeing various conflicts across the Middle East, often without any kind of documentation.

“We ignore them,” Labaki told Variety. “We act like they’re nonexistent when they’re here because of our wars and our conflicts and the stupid decisions of failing governments. I needed to understand what happens when one of these boys I saw on the streets disappears around the corner.”

So Labaki spent months researching the situation, speaking to families who were struggling to find food and shelter, and people faced with impossible choices. At the...

AFI Fest’s World Cinema section unveiled Tuesday includes seven films that have been officially submitted for the Foreign Language Film Oscar, from Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum and Matteo Garrone’s Dogman to Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Never Look Away and the Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Directors in the slate include Jafar Panahi, Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Sang-soo, Olivier Assayas, Carlos Reygadas, László Nemes and Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

The lineup includes 28 titles from 27 countries. The fest runs November 8-15 and opens with the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex and closes with Josie Rourke’s Mary Queen of Scots. In the mix too are a host of gala presentations featuring Bird Box, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Widows, Green Book and Destroyer. The latter pic will be screened as part of a tribute to its star Nicole Kidman.

Here’s the full World...

Other winners included Derek Doneen’s The Price Of Free and Samal Yeslyamova for her performance in Ayka.

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s drama 3 Faces scooped the top prize at the 55th edition of International Antalya Film Festival (Sept 29-Oct 5) last weekend.

The feature, which premiered in competition at Cannes where it won the prize for best screenplay, was feted with Antalya’s Golden Orange award and $53,000 cash prize for best film.

The director, who is currently under house arrest in Iran, participated in the awards ceremony via a video-link.

Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda won the $25,000 Golden Orange prize for...

Featuring a bevy of films which first wowed audiences at Cannes, Turkey’s Antalya Film Festival wrapped on Friday Oct. 5 with a crowded awards ceremony and a closing screening of “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” held at the Glass Pyramid.

Jafar Panahi’s “Three Faces” scooped top honors in a bittersweet win; the famed Iranian new wave filmmaker is currently serving a 20-year filmmaking and travel ban following a dispute which culminated in charges of “Colluding with the intention to commit crimes against the country’s national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

Despite the ban the filmmaker’s output has not halted, and four films made since the ban’s implementation have screened at major festivals such as Cannes and Berlin. “Three Faces” follows three actresses from different generations at different stages of their careers and was described in a glowing Variety review as “empathetic and engaging.

Screen’s regularly updated list of foreign language Oscar submissions.

Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the first submissions for best foreign-language film are now being announced.

Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.

Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.

Submitted films must be released theatrically...