Capernaum

7/23/2019

**_I wouldn't call it entertaining per se, but it's certainly provocative_** >_I saw kids who are so neglected, so abused that there's nothing anymore in their eyes. These children don't laugh, don't cry, and don't play. If you put a toy in front of them, they don't touch it. They are just numb. There's no more childhood in their eyes. After seeing these kids many times, when they started to have a trusting relationship with me, I used to ask them, "are you happy to be alive?" Ninety-nine percent of the kids answered "no". They told me: "I'm not happy to be here." "Why am I here when there'__s no one to take care of me?" "Why am I here if I'm going to be hungry all the time?" They have the feeling that they're here because they are being punished for something._ - Nadine Labaki; _Cap

9/19/2025

There’s something distinctly Dickensian about the urchin style of life lived by “Zain” (Zain Al-Rafeea) on the modern-day streets of Lebanon. He has to use his wits and guile, his charm and his youth to scrape a living after he ran away from his parents. He did this because they gave his beloved eleven-year-old sister to be married! He lucks out a little in that he quickly encounters “Rahil” (Yordanos Shiferaw) who is herself a refugee from Ethiopia and who needs some help looking after her baby “Yonas”. She offers him a place to sleep and some food and he babysits, but when she stops coming home he has to cope by himself whilst trying to track her down and stop the youngster from becoming ill. It’s suggested that local marketeer “Aspro” (Alaa Chouchnieh) might be able to help, and indeed