Capharnaüm

Synopsis

“The film starts with the audacious, hooky premise of a young boy who sues his parents for having him, and over the course of its two hours, it makes its case relentlessly, devastatingly, and uncompromisingly. (…) In the slums of Beirut that Labaki’s characters inhabit, people, especially children, come to be a part of that disorderly accumulation as well. When the film opens, Zain (Zain Alrafeea), who guesses he’s 12 but whose stunted body looks much younger, is being taken out of prison to face his parents in court. He has a lawyer, and even though he’s already stood trial for a stabbing (the details of which we’ll come to learn) he is now the plaintiff: He is here to make the case that his very birth was a crime of neglect.“ (Emily Yoshida, Vulture)

Around The World in 14 Films 2018, presented by Nikolai Kinski – in the presence of the editor Konstantin Bock