Nadine Labaki facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Nadine Labaki
نادين لبكي
Labaki in 2012
Born	Nadine Antoine Labaki (1974-02-18) February 18, 1974 (age 51) Baabdat, Lebanon
Education	Saint Joseph University
Occupation	Actress, director
Years active	1997–present
Spouse(s)	Khaled Mouzanar ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	2

Nadine Labaki (Arabic: نادين لبكي Nādīn Labikī; born February 18, 1974) is a talented Lebanese and Canadian actress, director, and activist. She first became well-known as an actress in the early 2000s. Her journey as a filmmaker began in 2007 with her first movie, Caramel. This film was shown for the first time at the famous Cannes Film Festival.

Nadine Labaki is known for showing everyday life in Lebanon. She also explores important topics like war, poverty, and women's rights in her films. She made history as the first female Arab director to be nominated for an Oscar. This was for her third film, Capernaum (2018), in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Nadine Labaki's Early Life

Nadine Labaki was born in Baabdat, Lebanon. Her family, the Labakis, were Maronite Christians. Her father was an engineer, and her mother was a homemaker. She grew up during a difficult time in Lebanon, living through a civil war until it ended in 1991.

From a young age, Nadine learned how to tell stories from her uncle. He was the family's hakawati, which means storyteller. Her grandfather also owned a small theater in Lebanon. This is where she discovered her love for movies. She started her career in 1990 on a Lebanese talent show called Studio El Fan. She won an award on the show for directing different music videos.

Nadine studied audiovisual arts at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. In 1997, she directed her graduation film, 11 Rue Pasteur. This film won the Best Short Film Award at a festival in Paris. What makes Nadine special is that she learned her filmmaking skills in Lebanon. Many other Lebanese and Arab filmmakers study abroad.

In 1998, she took an acting workshop in Paris. With her sister Caroline Labaki helping as a producer, Nadine directed many commercials and music videos. These were for popular singers in the Middle East, and she won several awards for them. She wanted to show modern Lebanese women who were comfortable and confident.

Her Amazing Career

Becoming a Director

In 2003, Nadine Labaki started getting a lot of attention in the Arab media. This was also the year she began directing music videos for singer Nancy Ajram. They worked together on popular music videos like "Ya Salam" and "Lawn Ouyounak." These videos won awards for being the best music videos.

Labaki in 2007

In 2005, Labaki spent six months at the Cannes Film Festival Residence. During this time, she wrote Caramel, her first full-length movie. In 2006, she directed Caramel and also played one of the main characters. The film shows a side of Beirut that many people don't know. Instead of focusing on political problems, it's a funny story about five Lebanese women. They meet at a beauty salon and share their experiences with love, traditions, and everyday life.

Caramel was first shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. It was a big hit and won many awards at festivals worldwide. This brought Nadine a lot of praise as both a director and an actress. Variety magazine even named her one of their "10 Directors to Watch." In 2008, the French government honored her with an award for her contributions to arts and letters.

In 2010, Labaki directed and starred in her second movie, Where Do We Go Now?. This film uses humor to talk about a serious topic. It's about a village in the Middle East where Muslim and Christian women try to stop their men from starting a religious conflict. The idea for this movie came to Labaki in 2008 when she was pregnant. Lebanon was facing a lot of tension between different religious groups. She thought about how far mothers would go to keep their sons safe from fighting.

The story of the film is set in Lebanon, but it doesn't say so directly. Labaki explained that the film's message is for everyone. She said, "this conflict does not only happen in Lebanon. I see it everywhere." Like Caramel, her second film used non-professional actors. Labaki believes that "normal people deserve to be on the big screen."

Where Do We Go Now? was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011. It won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. It also won many other awards at festivals around the world. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles. When it first opened in Lebanon, it had the most viewers ever for an Arabic-speaking film.

In late 2013, Nadine Labaki started working on her third movie, Capernaum. This film was chosen to compete for the top prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The movie tells the story of a 12-year-old boy living in a tough part of Beirut. He tries to sue his parents for bringing him into a world where children suffer and are neglected. Labaki wrote the script with Jihad Hojeily, Michelle Kesrouani, Georges Khabbaz, and her husband, Khaled Mouzanar. Khaled also produced the film and wrote the music. The title Capernaum means 'chaos'.

Before writing the film, Labaki spent three years researching children in Beirut. She gathered their real-life stories and experiences. She mostly used non-professional actors for this film. The main child actor, Zain Al Rafeea, was a Syrian refugee. Labaki found him playing with friends in one of the city's tough neighborhoods. Labaki described her filmmaking style as "very organic." She wanted to give a voice to these "forgotten children" and use her films to make a lasting change.

Labaki's films often use special lighting, atmosphere, and silence to help tell the story. Even though the political situations are often difficult, Labaki continues to make films that don't just focus on conflict.

Capernaum won the Jury Prize at Cannes. Labaki also won Best Directing at the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

She was chosen to be on the jury for a section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

After Capernaum was so successful, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) started representing Labaki.

Her movie Capernaum was nominated for an Oscar in the foreign-language category in 2019. This was the first time a female Arab director was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Working with the UNHCR and UNICEF, Zain Al Rafeea and his family were moved to Norway. He and his siblings are now going to school for the first time. Labaki said this is the greatest reward.

Her Acting Roles

Nadine Labaki started acting in short films in the early 2000s. She was in Zeina Durra's The Seventh Dog, which won an audience award in 2006.

In 2006, Labaki starred in "Bosta," a Lebanese musical comedy. The film was very popular and even made more money than "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in Lebanon.

In the same year, Labaki acted in her first full-length movie, Caramel.

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

She appeared in the Moroccan film Rock The Casbah, directed by Laila Marrakchi. She acted alongside Hiam Abbas and Lubna Azabal.

Nadine Labaki has also acted in her own films, including Where Do We Go Now? and Capernaum.

Labaki often chooses to act in her own movies. She feels that when she acts with the people she casts, they feel more comfortable. She also likes to make things up as they go along. Being in the film helps her direct the scene from the inside.

Judging Films

In 2021, Nadine Labaki was chosen to be a jury member at the 11th Beijing International Film Festival. She helped decide the winners of the Tiantan Awards.

What Her Films Are About

Important Messages in Her Films

Nadine Labaki grew up during the Lebanese Civil War. Because of this, her films often explore themes of violence and difficult experiences.

Labaki's movies encourage people to care about important issues. These include the refugee crisis and poverty. Even though her films often deal with serious topics like war, they also include humor. Her films show the impact of the Lebanese Civil War on the country. Her own experiences deeply affected her filmmaking. As a director, she feels she needs to do something good for her country. She believes it's important to talk about problems like poverty and the refugee crisis.

In 2018, Labaki talked about her movie Capernaum, which was nominated for an Oscar. She said her team wanted to include ideas like "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." She believes that “Cinema can be a way to [create] change.” She has said that politics and art are connected. Her films are her own “way of revolt.” According to Labaki, "sometimes, a line in a film, or a scene can make you think about yourself. By touching your hearts, films can offer hope more than politics." Labaki's films don't offer easy answers to Lebanon's problems. But she hopes they will "simply shake audiences out of their chronic lethargy." She believes her filmmaking and activism are the same thing. She thinks movies can bring about social change.

Another common theme in her work is feminism and stories about women. She does this by focusing on the daily lives of women in the Middle East in her films.

Through her films, Nadine Labaki connects ideas from the Arab world and the Western world. Her focus on women's rights highlights ordinary women. These women are affected by complex situations rooted in many years of political unrest.

Her Unique Filmmaking Style

Labaki often casts people who are not professional actors in her films. She finds men, women, and children who live in the real neighborhoods shown on screen. They then act out scenes based on their own experiences. She often films in some of Beirut's toughest areas. Labaki does this to make her films feel as real as possible.

Labaki is also known for spending a long time researching and choosing the cast for her films. She deeply understands the lives of the people she features. For her film Capernaum, she spent four years researching mistreated children in Beirut. She gave her actors very little direction. She used hand-held cameras to capture life on the streets of Lebanon. For her film Caramel, she spent almost a year looking for women who fit her characters. She purposely did not want professional actors. She explained that the natural reactions of real people made the story more believable. It showed women supporting each other through their problems. The filmmaker collected months of raw video footage. She later edited it down to just over two hours.

In a 2012 interview, 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 talk about important issues and show them through her art. This includes acting, directing, or even dance. Her movie Where Do We Go Now? uses a lot of dance. She mentioned in an interview that she used to be a dancer.

Nadine Labaki's Life Outside Work

Nadine Labaki speaks many languages. She is fluent in Arabic, French, English, and Italian. In 2007, she married Lebanese musician and composer Khaled Mouzanar. In 2009, Labaki had her first son, Walid. Seven years later, in 2016, she had a daughter named Mayroun.

In 2016, Labaki received an honorary degree from the American University of Beirut. She was also the main speaker at their graduation ceremony.

Getting Involved in Politics

In 2016, Labaki was a candidate for a new political group called Beirut Madinati. This was for the local election in Beirut in May 2016. Beirut Madinati focuses on fairness for everyone and helping the public. It includes a diverse group of citizens as representatives.

Even though the movement received about 40% of the votes, it lost to another group. This was because of the election system.

Films She Directed and Acted In

As a Director

• Caramel or Sukkar Banat. First shown at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
• Where Do We Go Now? released and first shown at the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
• Rio, I Love You segment: O Milagre
• Capernaum (2018) first shown at Cannes 2018. It won the jury prize and many other awards.

As an Actress

• 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
• 1982 (2019) – Yasmine
• Costa Brava, Lebanon (2021)
• Perfect Strangers (2022)
• Swimming Home (2024)

Awards and Recognitions

Helping Others

In 2014, Labaki became a goodwill ambassador for The Brave Heart Fund (BHF). This group is based at the Children's Heart Center in Beirut. The BHF helps raise awareness and money for operations for children with heart problems. These are children whose families cannot afford the medical care.

Want to Learn More?

In Spanish: Nadine Labaki para niños