Capharnaum(HKAFF 2018)

Jury Prize and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Cannes Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival

Lebanese drama Capharnaüm depicts the desperate, stranger-than-fiction lives of the Middle East’s countless neglected, poverty-stricken children. Actress-turned-director Nadine Labaki’s surprising third feature tells the tale of a 12 year-old who sues his parents for bringing him into the world. As unusual as that decision is, it’s nothing compared to the boy’s story: an epic of suffering that moves from his squalid home life through his chaotic daily struggle to his refuge with an undocumented Ethiopian woman – who ultimately leaves him as the sole guardian of her adorable toddler. Rewarded with a 15-minute standing ovation after its Cannes premiere, this is an emotionally powerful and astoundingly human work that is destined to be remembered.