DIRECTOR: Nadine Labaki
PRODUCERS: Khaled Mouzanar, Michel Merkt
SCREENPLAY: Nadine Labaki, Jihad Hojeily, Michelle Kesrouani, Georges Khabbaz, Khaled Mouzanar
PHOTOGRAPHY: Christopher Aoun
EDITORS: Konstantin Bock, Laure Gardette
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Hussein Baydoun
COSTUME DESIGNER: Zeina Saab Demelero
MUSIC: Khaled Mouzanar
WITH: Zain Al Rafeea (Zain), Yordanos Shiferaw (Rahil), Boluwatife Treasure Bankole (Yonas), Kawthar Al Haddad (Souad), Fadi Kamel Youssef (Selim), Cedra Izam (Sahar), Alaa Chouchnieh (Aspro), Nadine Labaki (Nadine)​

FESTIVALS: Cannes (In Competition) 2018
AWARDS: Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2018

REVIEW

This heartfelt drama of a runaway boy’s life on the streets of Beirut was shot with a cast of non-professional actors by Lebanese actress/director/co-writer Nadine Labaki.

“While this is unquestionably an issue film, it tackles its subject with intelligence and heart… Labaki uses a trial to structure the film, though this isn’t a courtroom drama... Admittedly the case could probably only exist in cinema: Zain (Zain Al Rafeea), already serving a five-year sentence for stabbing someone, is suing his parents… for giving him life. Approximately 12 years old (even his parents don’t know his exact age, and they never got a birth certificate), this pint-sized James Dean is a sensitive toughie simmering with righteous resentment. One glimpse at his troubled home life and it’s easy to understand why…
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Firmly in the tradition of great guttersnipe dramas, the film pays a considerable amount of attention to milieu, foregrounding the solidarity of children as they struggle to survive in an adult-made hell... Moments of humor…offer just the right balance with the overall unforced pathos… Young Al Rafeea is a revelation as the swaggering, foul-mouthed Zain, combining the requisite traits of wounded sensitivity with seasoned resilience that somehow never feels clichéd.”

— Jay Weissberg, Variety

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Wellington     
Monday, 15 March, 6:15pm

Queenstown     
Tuesday, 15 June, 8:15pm
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