Nadine Labaki is having one heck of an awards season. She made history as the first Arab female filmmaker to ever be nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign language film category, a feat she followed up with becoming the first Arab woman to be nominated for a Bafta.
Labaki’s film, Capernaum, gave Lebanon back-to-back foreign-language nomination at the Academy Awards following Ziad Doueiri’s The Insult, which was nominated last year.
However, across the pond at Royal Albert Hall in London, Labaki’s Capernaum lost out to Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma in the ‘Film Not in the English Language’ category.
Set against the backdrop of the Middle East’s growing refugee crisis, Labaki’s film follows a 12-year old Beirut boy who sues his parents over his birth.
At the Bafta awards, Bohemian Rhapsody’s Rami Malek won the best leading actor, while Green Book’s Mahershala Ali was named best supporting actor. Spike Lee took home best adapted screenplay honors for BlackKklansman and A Star is Born as expected won the best original song award.
