CAPERNAUM (CAPHARNAÜM) World Cinema

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Nadine Labaki’s CAPERNAUM follows Zain as he journeys from gutsy, streetwise child to hardened 12-year-old adult: fleeing his abusive, negligent parents, surviving through his wits on the streets, taking care of Ethiopian refugee Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) and her baby son Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole), being jailed for a violent crime, and finally, seeking justice in a courtroom. Made with a cast of non-professionals playing characters whose lives closely parallel their own, and steeped in the quiet routines of ordinary people, CAPERNAUM is a film with an expansive palette: without warning it can ignite with emotional intensity, surprise with unexpected tenderness and inspire with flashes of poetic imagery.