On November 15, the DGA Special Projects Committee Global Cinema Series screened a film from Lebanon, Director Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum.
Labaki’s film tells the extraordinary story of a 12-year-old boy who behaves more like a Dead End Kid than SpongeBob. Zain, a Lebanese street kid, sues his parents for the crime of giving him life and we learn why in a harrowing tale of survival. When he befriends an illegal Ethiopian immigrant, he is left to watch her baby son, seeking justice not only for himself, but also his sold-into-marriage sister and all who are victims of an inhumane system.
Capernaum won the Jury Prize, Prix de la citoyenneté and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and is Lebanon’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the forthcoming Academy Awards.
Following the screening in the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, Labaki discussed the challenges of making Capernaum in a conversation moderated by Global Cinema Subcommittee Chair Victoria Hochberg (The Chris Isaak Show).
In addition to Capernaum, Labaki’s credits include the "O Milagre" segment of the anthology film Rio, I Love You; and the features Caramel and Where Do We Go Now?, which won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film by the LA Film Critics Association.