Nadine Labaki

In 2003, Labaki's name began to become more popular within the Arab media. 2003 was also the year when she began directing music videos for singer Nancy Ajram. The song, "Akhasmak ah" (I'll taunt you), sparked controversy due to the nudity presented and its sexually explicit dancing.[8] Ajram's female character, who serves as a waitress to male customers, was seen as inappropriate and too evocative[10] Labaki defended her script, stating that Ajram was actually portraying an "assertive and powerful female figure".[10] Labaki and Ajram worked to redefine the image of the current Arab woman as feminine, alluring and in control.[11] Ajram continued to collaborate with Labaki on her music videos, "Ya Salam," "Lawn Ouyounak" and "Inta Eih."[10] The three videos were awarded with best music video honors.[10]

In 2005, Labaki took part in the Cannes Film Festival Residence for six months, during that time, she wrote Caramel, her first feature film. In 2006, she directed and played one of the leading roles in Caramel, which showcases a Beirut that most people are not familiar with. Rather than tackle political issues that have plagued Lebanon, she presents a comedy that deals with five Lebanese women in Beirut who gather at a beauty salon and deal with issues related to love, sexuality, tradition, disappointment, and everyday ups and downs. The film premiered at the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007, which was a commercial success in the summer of that same year. It sold worldwide and collected important prizes at many festivals around the world, garnering Labaki much acclaim both as a director and actress. It also put her on Variety's 10 Directors to Watch list at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2008 the French Ministry of Culture and Communication gave her the Insignia of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.

In 2010, Labaki directed and starred in her second feature film, Where Do We Go Now? The film humorously tackles a delicate subject about a war ravaged Middle Eastern village in which Muslim and Christian women try to keep their men from starting a religious war.[12] The idea for this film first came about when Labaki was pregnant with her son in 2008.[13] At that time, Lebanon was at the brink of its most violent turmoil in decades. Interreligious conflict led to outbursts in the streets of Beirut. Labaki speaks of friends becoming enemies due to religious differences.[14] Preparing for motherhood, she began to ponder what extreme lengths mothers would go to prevent their sons from obtaining arms and taking to the streets to fight.[13] This one idea sparked the narrative of this film, in which an entire town of women begin a mission to prevent the men from brutally killing each other.[13] The story takes place in Lebanon, although never explicitly stated. Labaki's reasoning for this was that "the film is universal... this conflict does not only happen in Lebanon. I see it everywhere . . . We are scared of each other as human beings."[13] Similarly to Caramel, her second feature casts non-professional actors.[14] In effort to heighten the reality, Labaki states that "normal people deserve to be on the big screen."[14]

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard category in 2011. The film won the Cadillac people's choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival. It also collected many other awards in festivals around the world, like Cannes Film Festival, San Sebastián International Film Festival, Stockholm Film Festival, Doha Tribeca Film Festival. The film was also nominated for best foreign film at the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles. During its opening weekend, the film hit the largest ever admissions total for an Arabic-speaking film in Lebanon, amounting 21,475 admissions for a total of $153,358.[15]

In late 2013, Nadine Labaki started work on her third feature film called Capernaum which was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at 2018 Cannes Film Festival.[16] The film tells the story of a 12-year-old boy living in the slums of Beirut. He strives to sue his parents for bringing him into a world of suffering and negligence of children.[17] Labaki wrote the screenplay along with Jihad Hojeily, Michelle Kesrouani, Georges Khabbaz and her husband, Khaled Mouzanar.[17] Mouzanar further produced the film and composed the music.[17] The title Capernaum, means 'chaos'.[18]

For three years prior to writing, Labaki extensively researched the city's children to gather accounts of their experiences, stories and pasts.[18] She used mostly non-professional actors for this film, including lead child actor Zain Al Rafeea, who was found in one of the slums playing with friends, a Syrian refugee himself.[18] Although a rather anti-classical style of filmmaking, Labaki deems her system as "very organic."[18] She strived to provide these "forgotten children" with a voice and use her cinematic tools to ignite a lasting change.[18]

Labaki's style of cinematography uses cinematic conventions, such as illuminations, atmosphere lighting, and silence to help convey the meaning in her films. Despite the often dangerous political situations Labaki continues to write and direct films that do not focus on conflict.

Capernaum won the Jury Prize at Cannes,[19] and Labaki won Best Directing at the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Awards.[20]

She was selected to be on the jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.[21]

Following the success Capernaum, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) signed Labaki in all areas, but she continues to be represented in France by Art Media Agency.[22]

Her movie Capernaum was nominated in the foreign-language Oscars category, which was a first for a female director in 2019. She is the first female Arab director to ever be nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.[23]

In collaboration with the UNHCR and UNICEF, Zain Al Rafeea and his family have been resettled in Norway. He and his siblings are attending school for the first time in their lives with a hope of regaining their childhoods. This, says Labaki, is the greatest reward.[18]

Nadine Labaki started acting in short films during the early 2000s.[24] She starred in Zeina Durra's The Seventh Dog. The work won the audience award at the Circuito Off Venice International Short Film Festival in 2006.[25]

In 2006, Labaki starred in "Bosta," a Lebanese musical comedy.[26] The film was a box office success, outgrossing "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."[26]

In the same year, Labaki acted in her first feature film, Caramel.

Labaki starred in Stray Bullet, directed by Georges Hachem in 2010.

She appears in the Moroccan production Rock The Casbah, directed by Laila Marrakchi, alongside actors Hiam Abbas and Lubna Azabal.[27]

She has also performed in her films Where Do We Go Now? and Capernaum.[5]

Labaki often casts herself in her movies. She feels, "When I act with the people I cast, they feel more comfortable. I like to improvise a lot, and when I am in the film, it's like directing the scene from the inside."[14]

Growing up during the Lebanese Civil War, Labaki's films are informed by her experiences of political unrest in her home country, often exploring themes of violence and trauma.[3]

Labaki's films challenge apathy towards important issues, such as the refugee crisis and poverty. Though themes of war and tragedy are prevalent in Labaki's works, so is humour.[4] Her films cover the Lebanese Civil War and the lasting impacts it had on the country. Her experiences impacted Labaki personally as well as how it shaped her filmmaking. Labaki has stated that she feels that as a director she has to do something good for her country.[5] She then decided that talking about problems such as poverty and the refugee crisis is important. FF2 Media covered a Q&A with Labaki in 2018 about her movie Capernaum, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year (as well as 34 other wins and 46 other nominations). She stated that while trying to brainstorm concepts for the script, her team came up with ideas that she wanted to include, such as "child labor, migrant labor rights, children's rights, the absurdity of having to have the papers to prove that you exist, the absurdity of borders, and early marriage".[28] She believes that “Cinema can be a way to [create] change.” She has stated that she believes that politics and art are intertwined and that her films are her own “way of revolt”.[5] According to Labaki, "sometimes, a line in a film, or a scene can make you think about yourself, about your decisions. By touching your hearts films can offer hope more than politics".[4] Labaki's films have no solutions for the issues Lebanon faces, but she hopes that her films will "simply shake audiences out of their chronic lethargy".[29] She has stated that for her, filmmaking and activism are one and the same, believing that cinema can effect social change.[30]

Another common theme in her work is feminism and the female narrative. She does this by focusing on the everyday lives of women in the middle East in her films.[31]

Through her films, Nadine Labaki connects themes from the Arab world and the Western world. Her transnational feminism highlights ordinary women affected by complex realities deeply rooted in decades of political turmoil.

Labaki's films are often cast with non-professional actors.[29] She often finds men, women, and children who live in the real neighborhoods shown on screen where they re-enact scenes from their own experiences, often in some of Beirut's grittiest slums.[29] Labaki does this to make the film as realistic as possible.[29] Labaki is also known for spending long periods of time to research and pick the cast for her films. She immerses herself in the lives of her subjects and spent four years researching her subject and the mistreated children in Beirut.[5] For her film Capernaum, she gave her actors minimal direction and used hand-held cameras to capture life in the streets of Lebanon.[29] For her film Caramel, she spent almost a year searching for women who resembled her characters.[29] She purposely did not want professional actors, she explained, and the spontaneity of each authenticates the plot of women supporting each other as they cope with their problems.[3] The filmmaker amassed months of raw footage, which she later edited down to just over two hours.[29]

Labaki states that she was inspired by the photo of a 3-year-old Syrian refugee whose lifeless body sparked outrage around the world.[32] Stating, "I remember thinking if this child could talk, what would he say, and how would he address the adults that killed him?" she says. "I wanted to become their voice, their vehicle for them to express themselves."[32]

In a 2012 interview with Jan Lisa Huttner from FF2 Media, Labaki said: "I have a problem with injustice. I have a problem with seeing the wrong things around me and just not saying anything about them". She likes to address relevant issues and portray them through her art, be it acting, directing, or even dance. Her movie Where Do We Go Now? heavily incorporates dance, and in the same interview with FF2 Media, she mentioned that she has a background of being a dancer.[33]

Nadine Labaki was a candidate on the list of the new political movement Beirut Madinati for the capital's May 2016 local election.[35] Beirut Madinati focuses on social justice and the good of the public utilizing a diverse group of citizens as representatives.[36]

Despite achieving about 40% of the popular vote, the movement lost against its opponent, the 'Beirutis' list' supported by Saad Hariri, in all 6 out of 12 wards, but did not gain a single seat under the election's one-district First-past-the-post system.

• Caramel or Sukkar Banat. Premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. (See Caramel for a list of awards and nominations).
• Where Do We Go Now? released and premiered as part of the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
• Rio, I Love You segment: O Milagre[37]
• Capernaum (2018) premiered at Cannes 2018 in the feature film competition, and won the jury prize, along with many other awards from other international festivals[38]

• Ramad (Ashes) – a short film by Joanna Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (2003)
• The Seventh Dog – a short film by Zeina Durra
• Non métrage Libanais (2003) – a short film by Wissam Smayra; Role as Nina
• Bosta – a long feature by Philippe Aractingi; Role as Alia
• Caramel or Sukkar Banat (2007) – Role as Layale
• Stray Bullet (2010) – Role as Noha
• Al Abb Wal Gharib The Father And The Foreigner (2010) by Ricky Tognazzi
• Where Do We Go Now? (2011) – Role as Amale
• Rock The Casbah (2013)
• Mea Culpa (2014)
• Rio, I Love You (2014) – Role as self
• La Rançon de la gloire (2014)
• The Idol (2015)
• Capernaum (2018) – Role as Nadine[39]
• 1982 (2019) – Yasmine