10 Things to Know About “Capernaum”

Capernaum Poster (Photo – Erica Brigade).

Ten things you did not know about the movie “Capernaum.”

By Rena Kurlander

Warning: May reveal few things about certain events in the plot (not a spoiler though).

1- “Zain” (Zain Al Rafeea) is a Syrian refugee in real life.

2- At the time of the filming, Rahil” (Yordanos Shiferaw) was an undocumented Ethiopian living in Lebanon. She was arrested 3 days after she filmed her arrest in the movie.

3- “Souad,” Zain’s mother, (Kawsar Al Haddad) has 16 children in real life and lives in the same conditions as those of the film.

4- “Yonas” (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole) is actually a girl. She was born in Beirut and was deported to Kenya by Lebanese authorities shortly after the filming wrapped up. The child was deported with her Kenyan mother and her father (he was deported to Nigeria).

5- The judge (Elias Khoury) is played by an actual retired Lebanese jurist.

6- At the end of the premiere at Cannes (May 17, 2018), the film received a 15-minute standing ovation.

7- The film won the Jury Prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

8- Selected as the official entry from Lebanon for Best Foreign Language Film for this year’s 91st Academy Awards.

9- [Updated] The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Awards’ best foreign language motion picture. Also was nominated for Oscar’s foreign-language film (nominations were announced on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019).

10- Although the film is a fiction, the director, Nadine Labaki, drew its elements from experiences and events she encountered while researching the movie in the slums of Beirut, juvenile prisons and detention centers.

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