Of all the attendees at the Red Sea Film Festival, only jury member Nadine Labaki can lay claim to having directed the most successful Arabic film in history.
“Capernaum,” Labaki’s third feature after “Caramel” and “Where do We Go Now,” became an unexpected smash hit for the groundbreaking Lebanese director back in 2018. The film earned critical acclaim when it first bowed in Cannes that year, winning the Jury Prize, and would go on to land an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film, making Labaki the first female Arab director to be nominated in that category. But when it was later released in China, something astonishing happened and the film — about a young refugee boy living in the slums of Beirut who sues his parents for child neglect — became a phenomenon, pushing its overall global box office to more than $68 million.
But for Labaki, having such a hit film and being swept up in awards season didn’t necessarily bring her the joy she anticipated. In fact, speaking at Variety Lounge presented by Red Sea Film Festival, she claimed it was the opposite.
“For me, 2019 was the year where I really achieved every dream I used to dream of when I was a kid. I went to the Oscars, I went to Cannes where I got the jury prize, the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Cesar Awards, all of it,” she said. “But 2019 was the hardest year of my life. Emotionally speaking, it was very hard, it was very difficult, even if it was so successful.”
The development of the film itself — a devastating exploration of the forgotten street children of Lebanon — was a lengthy and deeply affecting undertaking. But then amid the acclaim after it was released, “Capernaum” also received criticism over accusations that it both exploited non-child actors (the lead star, Zain Al Rafeea, was himself a refugee, and helped shape the story) and suffering of the poor to generate sympathy and awards.
“There’s always many, many, many different things that come with this kind of recognition and success, and sometimes also the backlash is is difficult to deal with,” Labaki acknowledged. (It should be noted that, after making the film, the director and production team helped Al Rafaee and his family resettle in Norway and set up scholarship fund for the other children involved).
Such was the emotional toll of the experience, Labaki took a step back from directing to focus on her acting, appearing in films such the Arabic adaptation of “Perfect Strangers” and last year’s “The Sand Castle,” both of which became hit for Netflix.
“For me, the best way was to be on a film set with less responsibility, with less stress, because I needed it,” she said. “I needed to feel like I was working, but I was not ready to start working on another film of my own or writing another film. Emotionally, I wasn’t ready. I needed time.”
Thankfully, for those who have been waiting seven years to see another film directed and written by Labaki, she is now ready to take the plunge again, with another project now in development.
“I’m working on it, I’m writing my next film and hopefully, if everything goes well, we’ll be shooting next year,” she said. “But it’s going to take a while, it’s not an easy project. It should take a bit of time to shoot, but if everything goes well and if I am in the right mood.”
But whereas Labaki’s previous three features have shone a light on various aspects of Lebanese society, this time, without going into detail, she said she was broadening her scope.
“I might be happening in different countries… this is what I’m aiming for.”
