‘It's Difficult To Just Let Go'

As Nadine Labaki’s Oscar-nominated Capernaum opens across the UAE, the Lebanese director discusses the impact it has had on her life and those involved in the film

- Iain Ackerman

When the Lebanese director and actress Nadine Labaki walked on stage to collect last year’s Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, it was not only recognition of a successful career, but an acknowledgement of the deep social issues that have been central to all of her work. With her on stage at the Palais des Festivals was Zain Al Rafeea, the young star of Capernaum, which tells the story of a 12-year-old boy who sues his parents for the life of misery and degradation they have given him. The film received a 15-minute standing ovation at its world premiere in May.

Ever since Cannes the whole world has wanted a piece of Nadine. An interest that has only intensified since she became the first female Arab artist to be nominated for an Oscar. As such she has barely had time for her own family, flitting from film festival to film festival and from premiere to premiere.

Now the UAE has a chance to see what all the fuss is about, with Capernaum opening across the country on 14 March. A neorealist and unflinching depiction of the lives of street children in Beirut’s slums, it might not be easy viewing.

“For me it was a duty to talk about this subject, to try to see the world from their point of view,” says Nadine. “To try to understand how they see it, how they see this injustice, how they address adults when it comes to their vision of the world that they live in and the chaos they are going through.”